Nepenthes Inermis - Botanical History

Botanical History

Nepenthes inermis was first collected on September 7, 1918, by H. A. B. Bünnemeijer on Mount Talang, at an altitude of 2590 m above sea level. Two further collections were made by Bünnemeijer on Bukit Gombak on November 16, 1918, at 2300 m and 2330 m. A fourth specimen was taken on April 26, 1920, from an elevation of 1800 m on Mount Kerintji. This final specimen, Bünnemeijer 9695, was later designated as the lectotype of N. inermis by Matthew Jebb and Martin Cheek.

Nepenthes inermis was first illustrated in an issue of De Tropische Natuur published in 1927. A year later, B. H. Danser formally described N. inermis in his seminal monograph "The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies". He wrote: "This new species is easily distinguishable from all others by the peculiar pitchers without peristome and with very narrow lid. Probably it is most nearly related to N. Bongso."

Several of the specimens collected by Bünnemeijer were labeled with the local vernacular names galoe-galoe antoe and kandjong baroek. Danser noted that these originate from the Minangkabau language and are also used to refer to other species, but stated that their meaning was not clear to him.

In 1986, Mitsuru Hotta and Rusjdi Tamin included plant material belonging to N. dubia and N. inermis in their description of N. bongso. In a 1993 study of Nepenthes prey and pitcher infauna, the same authors, together with M. Kato and T. Itino, identified N. inermis from Mount Gadut as N. bongso. Despite this taxonomic confusion, N. bongso differs considerably in pitcher morphology from N. inermis and is not easily confused with it.