Tropical pitcher plant

Description

Nepenthes justinae is a tropical pitcher plant known only from Mount Hamiguitan on the Philippine island of Mindanao, where it grows at elevations of 1000–1620 m above sea level. The specific epithet justinae honours Justina Yu, the mayor of San Isidro, Davao Oriental, Mindanao, whose efforts helped get the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014. Nepenthes justinae has no confirmed natural hybrids, although certain plants from Mount Hamiguitan may represent crosses involving it and N. hamiguitanensis, N. micramphora, and N. peltata, the three species with which it is sympatric. Nepenthes species usually consist of a shallow root system and a prostrate or climbing stem, often several metres long and up to 15 m (49 ft) or more, and usually 1 cm (0.4 in) or less in diameter, although this may be thicker in a few species (e.g. N. bicalcarata). From the stems arise alternate, sword-shaped leaves with entire leaf margins. An extension of the midrib (the tendril), which in some species aids in climbing, protrudes from the tip of the leaf; at the end of the tendril the pitcher forms. The pitcher starts as a small bud and gradually expands to form a globe- or tube-shaped trap. The shapes can evoke a champagne flute or a condom. The trap contains a fluid of the plant's own production, which may be watery or more viscous, and is used to drown the prey. This fluid contains viscoelastic biopolymers that may be crucial to the retention of insects within the traps of many species. The viscoelastic fluid in pitchers is especially effective in the retention of winged insects. The trapping efficiency of this fluid remains high, even when significantly diluted by water, as inevitably happens in wet conditions. The genus name Nepenthes was first published in 1737 in Carl Linnaeus's Hortus Cliffortianus. It references a passage in Homer's Odyssey, in which the potion "Nepenthes pharmakon" is given to Helen by an Egyptian queen. "Nepenthe" literally means "without grief" (ne = not, penthos = grief) and, in Greek mythology, is a drug that quells all sorrows with forgetfulness.