Nepenthes khasiana

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Nepenthes khasiana

Nepenthes khasiana. Cultivated plant.

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Nepenthaceae
Genus:	Nepenthes
Species:	N. khasiana

Binomial name

Nepenthes khasiana
Hook.f. (1873)

Satellite image of the Indian subcontinent with the distribution of N. khasiana highlighted in green.

Synonyms

Nepenthes distillatoria
auct. non L.: R.Grah. (1827)
Nepenthes melamphora
auct. non Reinw. ex Bl.: Hook.f. (1859)
[=N. gymnamphora/N. khasiana]
Nepenthes phyllamphora
auct. non Willd.: Regel (1881)
[=N. khasiana/N. mirabilis]
Nepenthes phyllamphora
auct. non Willd.: Sims (1826)
Nepenthes rubra
Hort. ex Rafarin (1869)

Nepenthes khasiana (pronounced /nəˈpɛnθiːz ˈkɑːsiːˌɑːnə/, after the Khasi Hills, to which it is largely endemic) is a tropical pitcher plant of the genus Nepenthes. It is the only Nepenthes species native to India.

The species has a very localised distribution and is rare in the wild. Isolated populations are known to occur in the Jarain area of the Jaintia Hills and the Baghmara area of the Garo Hills, adjacent to the Khasi Hills region of Meghalaya. The Khasi people call the plant tiew-rakot, which means demon-flower or devouring-plant. The Jaintias call it kset phare, which is roughly translated as lidded fly net. The Garo call the plant memang-koksi, which literally means the basket of the devil.^[1]

N. khasiana is a protected species, classified as Endangered, and is on CITES Appendix I along with N. rajah.

Intermediate pitcher of cultivated mature plant

Upper pitcher of cultivated mature plant

[edit] References

^ Flora of Meghalaya

Jebb, M. & Cheek, M. 1997. A Skeletal Revision of Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae). Blumea 42(1): 1–106.
Eilenberg, H., S. Pnini-Cohen, S. Schuster, A. Movtchan & A. Zilberstein 2006. Isolation and characterization of chitinase genes from pitchers of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes khasiana. Journal of Experimental Botany 57(11): 2775–2784. doi:10.1093/jxb/erl048
Riedel, M., A. Eichner, H. Meimberg & R. Jetter 2007. Chemical composition of epicuticular wax crystals on the slippery zone in pitchers of five Nepenthes species and hybrids. Planta 225(6): 1517–1534. doi:10.1007/s00425-006-0437-3
Venugopal, N. & N.R. Devi 2003. Development of the anther in Nepenthes khasiana Hook.f. (Nepenthaceae), an endemic and endangered insectivorous plant of North East India. Feddes Repertorium 114(1–2): 69–73. doi:10.1002/fedr.200390018