Tropical pitcher plant

Description

Nepenthes micramphora is a tropical pitcher plant known only from Mount Hamiguitan on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. It is a highland plant growing at elevations of 1100–1635 m. Nepenthes micramphora is closely allied to N. abgracilis and N. cid, both also from Mindanao, and together these species comprise the informal "N. micramphora group". The specific epithet micramphora is derived from the Greek mikros (small) and Latin amphora (amphora, urn), and references the tiny pitchers of this species. Nepenthes micramphora is a climbing plant growing to a height of 2.5 m. The stem is circular in cross section and up to 3.5 mm in diameter, with internodes up to 15 mm long. Nepenthes micramphora was formally described in 2009 by Volker Heinrich, Stewart McPherson, Thomas Gronemeyer, and Victor Amoroso. The description was published in the second volume of McPherson's Pitcher Plants of the Old World. The herbarium specimen V.Amoroso & R.Aspiras CMUH 00003545 is the designated holotype, and is deposited at the Central Mindanao University Herbarium in Musuan, Bukidnon, the Philippines. It was collected on 31 January 2005, from Mount Hamiguitan, on the trail from San Isidro, at an altitude of 1300–1600 m. Inflorescence measurements for the formal description were taken by Volker Heinrich at the type locality on 22 July 2008, since herbarium material of the floral structures could not be located. Leaves are sessile and coriaceous in texture. The lamina (leaf blade) is lanceolate-elliptic in shape and reaches 8 cm in length by 1 cm in width, being widest in its distal half. The lamina has an acute apex and is shortly attenuate at the base, clasping the stem for approximately one-third of its circumference. It is not decurrent down the stem. Two to three longitudinal veins are present on either side of the midrib, while pinnate veins are numerous. Tendrils are up to 7.5 cm long and 1 mm wide.