Nepenthes burbidgeae | |
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A lower pitcher of Nepenthes burbidgeae from Pig Hill, Mount Kinabalu | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
(unranked): | Angiosperms |
(unranked): | Eudicots |
(unranked): | Core eudicots |
Order: | Caryophyllales |
Family: | Nepenthaceae |
Genus: | Nepenthes |
Species: | N. burbidgeae |
Binomial name | |
Nepenthes burbidgeae Hook.f. ex Burb. (1882) |
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Synonyms | |
Nepenthes burbidgeae /nᵻˈpɛnθiːz bərˈbɪdʒi.aɪ/, also known as the painted pitcher plant or Burbidge's Pitcher-Plant, is a tropical pitcher plant with a patchy distribution around Mount Kinabalu and neighbouring Mount Tambuyukon in Sabah, Borneo.
Nepenthes burbidgeae was discovered on Mount Kinabalu in 1858 by Hugh Low and Spenser St. John. St. John wrote the following account of finding the species near the Marai Parai plateau:
Crossing the Hobang, a steep climb led us to the western spur, along which our path lay; here, at about 4000 ft [1200 m], Mr. Low found a beautiful white and spotted pitcher-plant which he considered the prettiest of the twenty-two species of Nepenthes with which he was then acquainted; the pitchers are white and covered in a most beautiful manner with spots of an irregular form, of a rosy pink colour.
Frederick William Burbidge was one of the first to collect the plant in 1878, although he did not succeed in introducing it into cultivation. The type specimen of N. burbidgeae, Burbidge s.n., was collected on the Marai Parai plateau of Mount Kinabalu and is deposited at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. A duplicate specimen is held at the New York Botanical Garden.