Nepenthes Villosa - Botanical History

Botanical History

Left: Plate 5080 from Curtis's Botanical Magazine showing the N. veitchii specimen that was misidentified as N. villosa
Right: Illustration of N. villosa from Life in the Forests of the Far East

Nepenthes villosa was formally described in 1852 by Joseph Dalton Hooker. The description was published in Icones plantarum and accompanied by an illustration.

The species was first collected in 1858 by Hugh Low when he made his second ascent of Mount Kinabalu together with Spenser St. John.

In an issue of Curtis's Botanical Magazine published in 1858, an illustration of an upper pitcher of N. veitchii was incorrectly identified as N. villosa by J. D. Hooker's father, William Jackson Hooker.

That year, N. villosa was also covered in Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l'Europe by Louis van Houtte.

In 1859, N. villosa was again described and illustrated in J. D. Hooker's treatment of the genus published in The Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. The illustration and description were reproduced in Spenser St. John's Life in the Forests of the Far East, published in 1862.

B. H. Danser treated N. edwardsiana in synonymy with N. villosa in his seminal monograph "The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies", published in 1928. The work included a revised Latin diagnosis and botanical description of N. villosa.

Danser listed four herbarium specimens that he identified as belonging to N. villosa. These include two collected by George Darby Haviland from Mount Kinabalu in 1892. One of these, Haviland 1656/1232, was collected at an altitude of 2400 m. It includes male floral material and is deposited at the Herbarium of the Sarawak Museum. The second specimen, Haviland 1813/1353, was collected from the Marai Parai plateau at an altitude of 1650 m; it likely represents N. edwardsiana. It is also deposited at the Herbarium of the Sarawak Museum. It does not include floral material. G. D. Haviland explored the Mount Kinabalu area with his brother H. A. Haviland between March and April, 1892, and must have collected these specimens during this time.

Additionally, Danser lists two specimens collected by Joseph Clemens in 1915. The first, Clemens 10627, was collected on November 13 from Paka Cave to Low's Peak. It includes female floral material. The second, Clemens 10871, was collected at Marai Parai between November 22 and November 23, and does not include floral material. Both specimens are deposited at the Bogor Botanical Gardens (formerly the Herbarium of the Buitenzorg Botanic Gardens) in Java.

In Letts Guide to Carnivorous Plants of the World, published in 1992, a specimen of the natural hybrid N. × kinabaluensis (N. rajah × N. villosa) is labeled as N. villosa.