Nepenthes paniculata

Nepenthes paniculata (/nɪˈpɛnθiːz ˌpænɪkjʊˈlɑːtə/; from Latin panicula "panicle") is a tropical pitcher plant belonging to the genus Nepenthes.

Nepenthes paniculata
Lower (top) and upper pitchers from the Doorman Massif, New Guinea
Conservation status
Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Nepenthaceae
Genus:	Nepenthes
Species:	N. paniculata
Binomial name
Nepenthes paniculata Danser (1928)[2]

Distribution and Habitat

Nepenthes paniculata is probably endemic to Doorman Top, a mountain in New Guinea (03°28′01″S 138°26′59″E). In recent times it has been recorded from mossy forest on a ridge top at 1,460 m altitude.^[1][3][4]

Hybrids

No forms or varieties of this species have been described. It may form natural hybrids with N. papuana.^[5]

Botanical History

In 1994, A. Wistuba, H. Rischer, B. Baumgartl, and B. Kistler explored Doorman Top in search of N. paniculata but found no Nepenthes other than N. lamii (then known as N. vieillardii) and N. maxima.^[6] However, they climbed a different slope to the one from which N. paniculata was originally collected.^[6]

In August 2013, the species was rediscovered by a team consisting of Holger Gossner, Thomas Gronemeyer, David Marwinski, Stewart McPherson, Marius Micheler, Joachim Nerz, Andreas Wistuba, and Urs Zimmermann.^[7][8][9][5] This expedition was the first to document the lower pitchers, which superficially resemble those of N. merrilliana and species related to it from the Philippines.^[10]

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  Nepenthes paniculata holotype (Lam 1569)