Nepenthes Rajah - History and Popularity

History and Popularity

See also: Timeline of Nepenthes rajah and its natural hybrids

Due to its size, unusual morphology and striking colouration, N. rajah has always been a very popular and highly sought-after insectivorous plant. However, despite its popularity amongst pitcher plant enthusiasts, N. rajah remains a little known species outside the field of carnivorous plants. Due to its specialised growing requirements, it is not a suitable candidate for a houseplant and, as such, is only cultivated by a relatively small number of hobbyists and professional growers worldwide. This being the case, N. rajah is nonetheless probably the most famous of all pitcher plants. Its reputation for producing some of the most magnificent pitchers in the genus dates back to the late 19th century.

Nepenthes rajah was first collected by Hugh Low on Mount Kinabalu in 1858. It was described the following year by Joseph Dalton Hooker, who named it after James Brooke, the first White Rajah of Sarawak. The description was published in The Transactions of the Linnean Society of London:

Nepenthes Rajah, H. f. (Frutex, 4-pedalis, Low). Foliis maximis 2-pedalibus, oblongo-lanceolatis petiolo costaque crassissimis, ascidiis giganteis (cum operculo l-2-pedalibus) ampullaceis ore contracto, stipite folio peltatim affixo, annulo maximo lato everso crebre lamellato, operculo amplissimo ovato-cordato, ascidium totum æquante.—(Tab. LXXII.) Hab.—Borneo, north coast, on Kina Balu, alt. 5,000 feet (Low). This wonderful plant is certainly one of the most striking vegetable productions hitherto discovered, and, in this respect, is worthy of taking place side by side with the Rafflesia Arnoldii. It hence bears the title of my friend Rajah Brooke, of whose services, in its native place, it may be commemorative among botanists. . . . I have only two specimens of leaves and pitchers, both quite similar, but one twice as large as the other. Of these, the leaf of the larger is 18 inches long, exclusive of the petioles, which is as thick as the thumb and 7–8 broad, very coriaceous and glabrous, with indistinct nerves. The stipes of the pitcher is given off below the apex of the leaf, is 20 inches long, and as thick as the finger. The broad ampullaceous pitcher is 6 inches in diameter, and 12 long: it has two fimbriated wings in front, is covered with long rusty hairs above, is wholly studded with glands within, and the broad annulus is everted, and 1–1½ inch in diameter. Operculum shortly stipitate, 10 inches long and 8 broad. The inflorescence is hardly in proportion. Male raceme, 30 inches long, of which 20 are occupied by the flowers; upper part and flowers clothed with short rusty pubescence. Peduncles slender, simple or bifid. Fruiting raceme stout. Peduncles 1½ inches long, often bifid. Capsule, ¾ inch long, ⅓ broad, rather turgid, densely covered with rusty tomentum.

Spenser St. John wrote the following account of his encounter with N. rajah on Mount Kinabalu in Life in the Forests of the Far East published in 1862:

Another steep climb of 800 feet brought us to the Marei Parei spur, to the spot where the ground was covered with the magnificent pitcher-plants, of which we had come in search. This one has been called the Nepenthes Rajah, and is a plant about four feet in length, with broad leaves stretching on every side, having the great pitchers resting on the ground in a circle about it. Their shape and size are remarkable. I will give the measurement of one, to indicate the form: the length along the back nearly fourteen inches; from the base to the top of the column in front, five inches; and its lid a foot long by fourteen inches broad, and of an oval shape. Its mouth was surrounded by a plaited pile, which near the column was two inches broad, lessening in its narrowest part to three-quarters of an inch. The plaited pile of the mouth was also undulating in broad waves. Near the stem the pitcher is four inches deep, so that the mouth is situated upon it in a triangular manner. The colour of an old chalice is a deep purple, but that of the others is generally mauve outside, very dark indeed in the lower part, though lighter towards the rim; the inside is of the same colour, but has a kind of glazed and shiny appearance. The lid is mauve in the centre, shading to green at the edges. The stems of the female flowers we found always a foot shorter than those of the male, and the former were far less numerous than the latter. It is indeed one of the most astonishing productions of nature. The pitchers, as I have before observed, rest on the ground in a circle, and the young plants have cups of the same form as those of the old ones. While the men were cooking their rice, we sat before the tent enjoying our chocolate and observing one of our followers carrying water in a splendid specimen of the Nepenthes Rajah, desired him to bring it to us, and found that it held exactly four pint bottles. It was 19 inches in circumference. We afterwards saw others apparently much larger, and Mr. Low, while wandering in search of flowers, came upon one in which was a drowned rat.

Nepenthes rajah was first collected for the Veitch Nurseries by Frederick William Burbidge in 1878, during his second trip to Borneo. Shortly after being introduced into cultivation in 1881, N. rajah proved very popular among wealthy Victorian horticulturalists and became a much sought-after species. A note in The Gardeners' Chronicle of 1881 mentions the Veitch plant as follows: "N. rajah at present is only a young Rajah, what it will become was lately illustrated in our columns...". A year later, young N. rajah plants were displayed at the Royal Horticultural Society's annual show for the first time. The specimen exhibited at the show by the Veitch Nurseries, the first of this species to be cultivated in Europe, won a first class certificate. In Veitch's catalogue for 1889, N. rajah was priced at £2.2s per plant. During this time, interest in Nepenthes had reached its peak. The Garden reported that Nepenthes were being propagated by the thousands to keep up with European demand.

However, dwindling interest in Nepenthes at the turn of the century saw the demise of the Veitch Nurseries and consequently the loss of several species and hybrids in cultivation, including N. northiana and N. rajah. By 1905, the final N. rajah specimens from the Veitch nurseries were gone, as the cultural requirements of the plants proved too difficult to reproduce. The last surviving N. rajah in cultivation at this time was located at the National Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin in Ireland, however this soon perished also. It would be many years before N. rajah was reintroduced into cultivation.

Click to view a list of early publications, illustrations, and collections of Nepenthes rajah.

Early publications: Transact. Linn. Soc., XXII, p. 421 t. LXXII (1859) ; MIQ., Ill., p. 8 (1870) ; HOOK. F., in D.C., Prodr., XVII, p. 95 (1873) ; MAST., Gard. Chron., 1881, 2, p. 492 (1881) ; BURB., Gard. Chron., 1882, 1, p. 56 (1882) ; REG., Gartenfl., XXXII, p. 213, ic. p. 214 (1883) ; BECC., Mal., III, p. 3 & 8 (1886) ; WUNSCHM., in ENGL. & PRANTL, Nat. Pflanzenfam., III, 2, p. 260 (1891) ; STAPF, Transact. Linn. Soc., ser. 2, bot., IV, p. 217 (1894) ; BECK, Wien. Ill. Gartenz., 1895, p. 142, ic. 1 (1895) ; MOTT., Dict., III, p. 451 (1896) ; VEITCH, Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc., XXI, p. 234 (1897) ; BOERL., Handl., III, 1, p. 54 (1900) ; HEMSL., Bot. Mag., t. 8017 (1905) ; Gard. Chron., 1905, 2, p. 241 (1905) ; MACF., in ENGL., Pflanzenr., IV, 111, p. 46 (1908) ; in BAIL., Cycl., IV, p. 2129, ic. 2462, 3 (1919) ; MERR., Bibl. Enum. Born., p. 284 (1921) ; DANS., Trop. Nat., XVI, p. 202, ic. 7 (1927).

Early illustrations: Transact. Linn. Soc., XXII, t. LXXII (1859) optima; Gard. Chron., 1881, 2, p. 493 (1881) bona, asc. 1 ; Gartenfl., 1883, p. 214 (1883) bona, asc. 1 ; Wien. Ill. Gartenfl., 1895, p. 143, ic. 1 (1895) asc. 1 ; Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc., XXI, p. 228 (1897) optima; Bot. Mag., t. 8017 (1905) optima; BAIL., Cycl., IV, ic. 2462, 3 (1919) asc. 1 ; Trop. Nat., XVI, p. 203 (1927) asc. 1.

Early collections: North Borneo. Mt. Kinabalu, IX 1913, Herbarium of the Sarawak Museum (material without flowers or fruits) ; Marai-parai Spur, 1-4 XII 1915, Clemens 11073, Herbarium Bogoriense, the Herbarium of the Buitenzorg Botanic Gardens (male and female material) ; 1650 m, 1892, Haviland 1812/1852, Herbarium of the Sarawak Museum (male and female material).