Nepenthes Flava - Ecology

Ecology

Nepenthes flava is only known from a single mountain in the Barisan Mountains of North Sumatra, Indonesia. In the interests of conservation, the exact locality has not been disclosed. The species has an altitudinal distribution of 1800–2200 m above sea level.

Left: Sympatric upper pitchers of N. flava and N. mikei
Right: Nepenthes flava growing in mossy forest under a 10 m high canopy at 1850–2000 m

The typical habitat of N. flava is upper montane mossy forest dominated by Rhododendron and Leptospermum plants. It often grows terrestrially in more open areas of forest, where the vegetation rarely exceeds 4–5 m in height. The species is naturally sympatric with N. mikei, N. ovata, N. rhombicaulis, and N. spectabilis. Natural hybrids with N. ovata and N. rhombicaulis have been recorded.

The only known locality of N. flava does not lie within the boundaries of a national park. Although it appears to be locally abundant, Stewart McPherson considers the species to be "at significant risk of being poached and over-collected" and cites the "rapid demise" of N. aristolochioides, another highly sought-after Sumatran plant, as an example of the possible fate of this species.