A Gesnid limestone specialist

A rather interesting Paraboea from the steep limestone karst of Southern Thailand.

The rosette of hirsute leaves is vegetatively similar to the one I had previously posted except that the flowers are larger and the cymes are less branched.

Paraboeas are specialised limestone plants that are fully adapted to the free draining substrate and bright light. Some of them can be tree-like but generally they are small to mid size plants. They are closely related to Boea, both having hairy leaves but differing in the hairs being simple for Boea and cobweb-like in Paraboea. As a general guide, those that has white or silvery reflective leaves grow in the most exposed places while those with green leaves require some shade. As you can see from the next 2 photos, they have resurrection abilities - tolerating extreme drought by rolling up the leaves and shrivelling and reviving once water becomes available again.

The black pitcher - Nepenthes ramispina

This is one of the species of pitcher plants endemic to Peninsula Malaysia and is most closely related to N. gracillima and the white pitcher N. alba. While the latter 2 are confined to the Gunung Tahan mountain, this species is widespread across the central Titiwangsa range at altitude above 1000m.

The species is most recognisable by its striking pitcher which is black to dark purplish grey on the outside (including the periostome) and a contrasting pale green on the inside. The shape is also distinguishable, being elongated with a distinct "hip" at the midway. According to literature the pitcher can be 20cm long but only those one third the reported size were sighted.

Not far away, we found an aberrant specimen which had a mottled pitcher. I believe this is a natural hybrid Nepenthes ramispina x macfarlanei ....

...its other parent, N. macfarlanei, was also found on the same locality. It has a squat pitcher that flare at the top and a nice fleckled pattern - a trait which was passed down to the hybrid. You can see my previous entry of this plant here.

Dichotomy

The Iguana palm

Iguanura is a genus of twenty or so species of smallish palms confined to Malay Peninsula, Borneo and Sumatra. It is relatively unknown but some species are finding their way into specialist collections.

While trekking up a mountain near the east coast of Malaysia, we came across a population of this palm at about 300m elevation. The large undivided leaves stood up against a myriad of greenery that engulfed us.
This form of Iguanura wallichiana is one of the more ornamental variety known due to the large undivided leaves with reddish mid-rib. Young leaves are known to be pink. It has been given varietal name var major but some have decided to place it as a new species, I. spectabilis, altogether.

The origin of the name comes from its long infructescence which looked like the tail of an Iguana, or any lizard for that matter.


The plant appears to be rather specific in their demands - being found only above 300m or so as already said. The larger specimens were seen at shady clearings away from the darkest shadows of the canopy. The gently sloping ground suggest they would not like their feet wet, unlike their more aquatic relative I. tenuis.