Related Species
Nepenthes beccariana is closely related to N. longifolia and N. sumatrana, and may be conspecific with the former. The extent of the variation in N. beccariana and N. longifolia is unknown, making them difficult to circumscribe. Observations of N. beccariana at the type locality would need to be carried out to resolve this taxonomic confusion.
Despite sharing a number of morphological features with N. sumatrana, N. beccariana is difficult to confuse with this species. Nepenthes sumatrana is distinguished by its infundibular upper pitchers (versus cylindrical in N. beccariana), which have a raised section at the front of the peristome. In addition, the ovoid lower pitchers of N. sumatrana have orbicular lids, as opposed to the ovate operculum of N. beccariana.
The unidentified taxon (N. cf. beccariana) that grows along the road from Sibolga to Tarutung is similar to N. longifolia, but is atypical of the species. It differs from the type form of N. longifolia in that the petioles are not decurrent into a pair of wings over the internodes and some of the hairs lining the leaf margins are caducous. The plants also differ in ecology; the unidentified taxon grows in both exposed sites and amongst dense vegetation, while N. longifolia is generally found in dense forest.
Read more about this topic: Nepenthes Beccariana
Famous quotes containing the words related and/or species:
“The near explains the far. The drop is a small ocean. A man is related to all nature. This perception of the worth of the vulgar is fruitful in discoveries. Goethe, in this very thing the most modern of the moderns, has shown us, as none ever did, the genius of the ancients.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“The question that will decide our destiny is not whether we shall expand into space. It is: shall we be one species or a million? A million species will not exhaust the ecological niches that are awaiting the arrival of intelligence.”
—Freeman Dyson (b. 1923)