Description
Nepenthes pilosa is a climbing plant. The stem may reach a length of more than 7 m and is up to 9 mm in diameter. Internodes are up to 7 cm long and circular in cross section.
Leaves are petiolate and coriaceous or thin-coriaceous in texture. The lamina or leaf blade is obovate-lanceolate to lanceolate in shape. It measure up to 30 cm in length by 7.5 cm in width. The apex of the lamina is rounded or shortly acuminate and may be slightly peltate. The lamina is abruptly attenuate towards the base. The petiole is triangular and up to 6 mm wide. It is grooved and bears a pair of narrow wings that form an amplexicaul sheath around the stem and are decurrent for up to 2.5 cm, terminating abruptly in a rounded base. Four or five logitudinal veins are present on either side of the midrib. Pinnate veins are indistinct and irregularly reticulate. Tendrils are usually around 1.5 to 2 times as long as the lamina.
Rosette and lower pitchers are ovate in the lower portion, becoming cylindrical above. They are up to 10 cm high by 4 cm wide and typically have prominent ribs on their ventral surface in place of wings. The pitcher mouth has an oblique insertion. The peristome is flattened and up to 7 mm wide at the rear. It bears a series of ribs spaced ⅓ to ¼ mm apart, which terminate in short teeth that are barely longer than they are broad. The glandular region covers the ventricose portion of the pitcher's inner surface. The digestive glands are overarched and number 600 to 700 per square centimetre. The pitcher lid or operculum is roughly orbicular, subcordate, and around 2.5 cm long by 2.5 cm wide. It is relatively flat, although it has a central keel in its basal part. Extrafloral nectaries are scattered on the underside of the lid, becoming smaller and more numerous towards the margins.
Upper pitchers gradually arise from the ends of the tendrils, forming a 15 to 20 mm wide curve. They are infundibular in shape and reach much greater dimensions than their lower counterparts, measuring up to 18 cm high by 8 cm wide. Like terrestrial pitchers, they lack wings, instead having a pair of prominent ribs. The pitcher mouth is positioned almost horizontally at the front, but rises into a neck (≤3 cm high) towards the rear. The flattened peristome is up to 12 mm wide and bears ribs spaced ⅓ mm apart which terminate in short teeth. Virtually the entire inner surface of the pitcher is glandular, having very small overarched glands at a density of 2000 to 2500 per square centimetre. The pitcher lid suborbicular, deeply cordate, and measures up to 7 cm in length. Small round glands are scattered throughout the lower surface of the lid and a prominent hook-like crest is present near the base.
Nepenthes pilosa has a conspicuous indumentum of yellow-brown hairs. This covering is particularly dense on developing parts and on the underside of the lamina in mature leaves. It is notably absent from the upper surface of the lamina.
Herbarium specimens dry to a reddish-brown colour on the stem and the underside of the leaves, while the upper surface of the lamina is typically fallow.
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