Related Species
An upper pitcher of N. edwardsiana (left) and N. macrophylla (right)Nepenthes villosa is most closely related to N. edwardsiana and N. macrophylla. There has been much taxonomic confusion surrounding the status of these three taxa.
Joseph Dalton Hooker, who described both N. edwardsiana and N. villosa, noted the similarity between the two species as follows:
This most remarkable plant resembles that of edwardsiana in so many respects, especially in the size, form and disposition of the distant lamellae of the mouth, that I am inclined to suspect that it may be produced by young plants of that species, before it arrives at a stage when the pitchers have elongated necks.
Günther Beck von Mannagetta und Lerchenau was the first to treat N. edwardsiana in synonymy with N. villosa when he published his monograph on the genus in 1895.
In his 1908 monograph, John Muirhead Macfarlane wrote the following with regards to the two species: "Examinatione microscopica probatur, illas species distinctas esse". This is probably "based on the old belief that plants, which differ anatomically, can not be forms of the same species".
B. H. Danser united the species "ith some hesitation" in his 1928 monograph "The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies". He suggested that N. villosa is a stunted form of N. edwardsiana from higher altitudes, which flowers at a "juvenile stage of development". Danser acknowledged that the indumentum of N. villosa is more dense than that of N. edwardsiana, but noted that it "is a difference only of degree".
The two taxa differ considerably in their altitudinal distributions. Nepenthes villosa usually occurs at ultrahighland elevations (2300–3240 m), whereas N. edwardsiana is found between 1500 and 2700 m. Where their altitudinal distributions overlap, they are still identifiable as distinct species.
Nepenthes macrophylla was originally described in 1987 as a subspecies of N. edwardsiana by Johannes Marabini. It was later elevated to species status by Matthew Jebb and Martin Cheek. This interpretation was supported by Charles Clarke, who noted that N. edwardsiana and N. villosa "have more in common" than N. edwardsiana and N. macrophylla. Whereas N. edwardsiana and N. villosa are restricted to the Kinabalu area, N. macrophylla is only found near the summit of Mount Trus Madi.
Matthew Jebb and Martin Cheek suggest that N. villosa is related to N. mira, a species endemic to Palawan in the Philippines. N. villosa also shows affinities to N. peltata of Mindanao.
Read more about this topic: Nepenthes Villosa
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