Nepenthes:
Carnivorous Pitcher plants of South East Asia
I spent a number of years living and working in the land of the tropical pitcher plant. I spent almost every weekend trekking through the great rainforests of Malaysia and Indonesia - photographing these wonderful plants. Other than the mosquitoes, cobra snakes and giant insects, the nature treks were well worth it. Accompanying me on these visits were some fine educators from Singapore, who are now my lifelong friends.
It's amazing how one perceives "greener grass" on the other side of the fence. I kept yearning and envying how lucky my friends were - with Nepenthes in their backyard... and they would pine back - "... yes, if we could only grow Darlingtonia, the way you grow them over in your country!"
Seeing how these plants thrived in it's natural habitat really gives one an appreciation for the sort of care these Nepenthes need. For those who have never visited the land of the lowland Nepenthes, let's get your mindset in the right frame of mind: put on a heavy sweater and walk into a steam bath. It's hot, sticky, humid and unrelenting. This is how your lowland equatorial belt plants love it - hot and humid.
The following photos were taken in the mid-1990's, and the scan resolution isn't the best. I had prepared these for my CP friends back when a bunch of them was following my CP daily journal in Malaysia through the than infant world wide web. This first batch of images are of lowland (ie. near sea level) Nepenthes.
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