Tag Archives: nepenthes

Pitcher plant of Kinabalu Park

Pitcher Plant in Kinabalu Park

3 Replies

Just to continue my Pitcher Plant (Nepenthes) hunting from my last blog. This time I bring you to Kinabalu Park, the 1st World Heritage Site of Malaysia. Normally climbers don’t pay much attention to the unique vegetation beside the trail, when they are busy on the way to conquer Mt. Kinabalu, the highest peak in Malaysia.

Personally I think it is not big deal to reach the summit, as EVERYONE can do it, even school students and 60-year-old men. Mt Kinabalu is not even the highest peak in Asia, but its unique vegetation and biodiversity is one of the most impressive in the world. What I am trying to say is – the peak is the target, but the real reward and highlight are the things that we see along the path.

Probably I am not a first-timer, now I spend more time observing plant grown next to the trail, though I don’t know most of them. If you like Pitcher Plant, you can check out your surrounding, starting from Mempening Hut (4th hut on summit trail) to Paka Cave Shelter, about 3KM – 5.5KM of the trail. You can Click Here to see the trail map. There is a high concentration of pitcher plant along it. Below is a photo of Nepenthes tentaculata grown on ground.

The pitcher plant I found at lower altitude are quite small and “feature-less.” They have no distinguish form, which allows me to tell what species they are (though I try to find out in the book). The species that I want to see the most are Nepenthes lowii, rajah and xtrusmadiensis, coz they are only found in Sabah.

But the one below you would never get it wrong, it is Nepenthes villosa, due to its unique shape and bright colors (red, yellow or green). The ribs on the edge of its mouth look like sharp teeth, so some tourists thought its lid can close+open rapidly and chew the prey, like the man-eater flower they saw in TV. FYI, in official record, the huge pitcher plant can trap prey as big as rat. How about monkey? You must be kidding..

Nepenthes villosa is big and grows in abundance along the summit trail in higher altitude, so you hardly miss it if you keep an eye for your side (sadly, most mountain guides are lazy to point it out for you). Someone told me that the monkey holds the pitcher plant like a cup and drink the water inside. I don’t know how true it is, as the digestive fluid of pitcher plant can be highly acidic (up to pH 1.90), though you would find mosquito larvae lives happily inside. FYI, scientist discovered new species of mosquito in it.

You can see more photos of pitcher plant in Sabah Agriculture Park of Tenom town. They have a good collection of local species in their pitcher plant garden.

Photos taken in Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Papar Forest

6 Replies

Not really a forest. I just took a walk in nearby jungle of Mai Aman, a Papar homestay centre, which is located 35KM away from KK city (you can see the sign at the left when you drive from KK to Papar town). Most visitors would be attracted by the fish ponds there, but I was very curious about the strange tall trees at the far end of this centre.

Actually those are mangrove trees. They also can grow in water or wetland, but they look very different from the mangrove trees that live in swampy area between sea and river. According to Uncle Robert, these are the more “inland” type of mangrove trees. The weird shape of their root helps them anchor firmly in the water. Odd but beautiful…

When I got closer to check them out, I found a nice pitcher plant grew next to one of the trees. I am not a botanist, so I don’t know its species. It looks like Nepenthes mirabilis.

Mai Aman is also a place where we can relax and enjoy the freshwater fishes caught from the pond. I tried the Tilapia fish. Usually freshwater fishes got a bit of smell of mud, but surprisingly, I could not taste that. According to Uncle Robert, this is because the water of the fish ponds is from the fresh and clean stream from the hill nearby.

After lunch, I continued my jungle trekking at the hill. I was told that if you find fern in the hill, you could also find pitcher plant grew among (or under) them, but you had to be very observant. After nearly an hour of searching, finally I spot it. It got easier when I learnt where it grew, and I found 2 species of them.

For me, it is far more exciting to see pitcher plant, than seeing them in the garden. There are 2 main types of pitcher plant, i.e. “Upper” and “Lower”.

Below is an example of “upper” pictehr plant. It grows on higher spot and usually slimmer. It feels like paper when held in hand (Note: I didn’t pluck any of them for photo-taking). I tried to look for its species name in the book but couldn’t find it. It could be a hybrid of two species. I am guessing only.

Another picther plant species I find is Nepenthes hirsuta, an example of “Lower” picther plant. It grows under other vegetation so it is even harder to spot. Lower pitcher plant uses ground to support its body (with bigger capacity), unlike upper pitcher plant which hang from the leaf. Lower pitcher plant has 2 hairy lines (called wings) along its body.

Not bad huh… I find 3 species of pitcher plant in a day. Mountain and beach forest also got very different types of pitcher plant. I will find to photograph them and share the photos in future. There are only 20 species of pitcher plant in Sabah, but it is not easy to see all of them.

Photos taken in Papar, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo