Nepenthes ampullaria

[Hornblende]

Nepenthes ampullaria is a "carnivorous" plant from southern Asia and lives in hot and humid tropical forests. I say "carnivorous" because N. ampullaria does not really prey on insects unlike the other Nepenthes species. In fact, N. ampullaria acquires its nutrients from digesting leaves that fall into its pitchers! N. ampullaria is well adapted for this task: the lid is very small and does not cover the wide opening of the pitcher, and the plant forms a carpet of pitchers that cover a wide surface area on the ground to better catch falling leaves. Moreover the pitchers lacks nectar glands, don't really produce any digestive enzimes, and aren't very slippery. Mosquitoe larvas living in the pitcher help degrade the organic matter into assimilable nitrogen.

 

My plant is still pretty young and the pitchers are tiny, but they can grow a lot lot bigger!

 

VIS – This pitcher is so cute, I am melting.

 

UV – The peristome is quite dark and the spots on the pitcher are harder to see.

 

IR – All white. You can see the level of the fluid inside the pitcher if you look carefully.

 

UVIVF – Now this is more interesting. I couldn't reproduce the "true" colors I was seeing with my own eyes, the pitchers looked more red but anyway, I really like how the lower part of the peristome is glowing blue!

 

UVIIRF – Not much different from the IR shot, the spots are visible but hard to see.

 

Simulated bee vision – I don't think any bee would visit a N. ampullaria pitcher but here it is for good measures.

 

 

Gear used:

Camera: Canon 6D full spectrum

Lens: El-Nikkor 80mm f5.6

Filters: Baader-U ; Lifepixel IR 830nm filter ; Lifepixel UV/IR cut filter ; BG-39

Light: Convoy S2+ ; Uniquefire IR 940nm

[Andrea B.]

Good series!

 

What fascinating plants, these pitchers are. What do you feed yours? Are they difficult to maintain?

[Hornblende]

Thanks Andrea :)

 

Nepenthes don't really NEED to eat, it is more like bonus nitrogen to boost their growth. Since Nepenthes ampullaria does not really eat insects I don't feed it at all.

I have two other Nepenthes that eat insects. During summer I feed them with wasps I catch outside, and during winter I feed them with small fertilizer pellets.

They are pretty easy to maintain. Mine are in a glass tank with fluorescent lighting, a fogger to increase humidity and a heat mat on the bottom. I left them for 15 days when I went back in France for Christmas, on my return one was severely dehydrated but got back on its feet as soon as I watered them.

Here are my two other plants:

[Adrian]

Great series! I wonder if a more mature pitcher would show a greater fluorescence on the peristome?

 

There is the theory, as you say, that this species evolving a less carnivorous diet, with at least 30% and as much as 70% of it's nutrient coming from vegetation. The rest seems to be made up from ants and other small insects.

 

I grow a number of carnivorous plants, and the golden rule seems to be to water them with rainwater, rather than tap water. I suspect most plants of Venus Fly Trap die early because they are watered with tapwater!

Also, if you grow Sarracenia species (the north American ones) then give them a dose of cold weather in winter. I grow my Nepenthes on windowsills, and spray them every other day to maintain humidity.