Is the nepenthes rajah plant the one from the Little Shop Of Horrors?
The carnivorous plant – discovered in the central Philippines and similar to the man-eating plant Audrey created by nerdy florist Seymour Krelborn in the 1986 film – is so big it can catch rats as well as insects in its traps. Botanists named the remarkable plant Nepenthes attenboroughii in honour of natural history expert Sir David.
Nepenthes rajah is an insectivorous pitcher plant species of the monotypic Nepenthaceae family. It is endemic to Mount Kinabalu and neighbouring Mount Tambuyukon in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. N. rajah grows exclusively on serpentine substrates, particularly in areas of seeping ground water, where the soil is loose and permanently moist. The species has an altitudinal range of 1500 to 2650 m a.s.l. and is thus considered a highland or sub-alpine plant. Due to its localised distribution, N. rajah is classified as an endangered species by the IUCN and listed on CITES Appendix I. N. rajah was first collected by Hugh Low on Mount Kinabalu in 1858. It was described the following year by Joseph Dalton Hooker, who named it after James Brooke, the first White Rajah of Sarawak. Hooker called it “one of the most striking vegetable productions hither-to discovered”. Since being introduced into cultivation in 1881, N. rajah has always been a much sought-after species. For a long time, it was a plant
A real-life version of the man-eating plant featured in Little Shop Of Horrors has been named after Sir David Attenborough. The carnivorous plant – discovered in the central Philippines and similar to the man-eating plant Audrey created by nerdy florist Seymour Krelborn in the 1986 film – is so big it can catch rats as well as insects in its traps. Botanists named the remarkable plant Nepenthes attenboroughii in honour of natural history expert Sir David.
Nepenthes rajah is an insectivorous pitcher plant species of the monotypic Nepenthaceae family. It is endemic to Mount Kinabalu and neighbouring Mount Tambuyukon in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. N. rajah grows exclusively on serpentine substrates, particularly in areas of seeping ground water, where the soil is loose and permanently moist. The species has an altitudinal range of 1500 to 2650 m a.s.l. and is thus considered a highland or sub-alpine plant. Due to its localised distribution, N. rajah is classified as an endangered species by the IUCN and listed on CITES Appendix I. N. rajah was first collected by Hugh Low on Mount Kinabalu in 1858. It was described the following year by Joseph Dalton Hooker, who named it after James Brooke, the first White Rajah of Sarawak. Hooker called it “one of the most striking vegetable productions hither-to discovered”. Since being introduced into cultivation in 1881, N. rajah has always been a much sought-after species. For a long time, it was a plant
