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Pitcher plant

Nepenthes distillatoria

Pitcher plant
Photo: James & Jana Hans, CC BY-SA 3.0

Nepenthes distillatoria is a tropical pitcher plant (a climbing shrub) endemic to Sri Lanka and the type species of the genus Nepenthes. It traps insects in liquid-filled pitchers and needs high humidity and bright conditions to thrive.

Family
Nepenthaceae (Pitcher-plant family)
Grows as
Shrub, Climber
Light
Bright indirect, Part shade
Water
Keep the soil consistently moist, use rainwater or distilled water, and keep the pitcher reservoirs topped up.
Soil
Free-draining, acidic mix such as sphagnum moss with perlite or orchid bark.
Temperature
18–28 °C; protect below 15 °C
How easy
Moderate
Native range
SW. Sri Lanka
Climate
wet tropical

About

Nepenthes distillatoria (; Neo-Latin, from Latin: destillo "to distill", -oria, adjectival ending; "something from which a liquid is distilled", i.e., pitcher) is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Sri Lanka. It was the second Nepenthes species to be described in print and the first to be formally named under the Linnaean system of taxonomy. It is therefore the type species of the genus.

Where it grows

Nepenthes distillatoria is endemic to Sri Lanka and is the only Nepenthes species recorded from the island. It grows in waterlogged open scrub, along road embankments and other cleared areas, and in forest. N. distillatoria occurs from sea level to 700 m altitude.

Other Nepenthes plants

Nepenthes abalata · Nepenthes abgracilis · Nepenthes adnata · Nepenthes aenigma · Nepenthes alata · Nepenthes alba · Nepenthes albomarginata · Nepenthes alfredoi · Nepenthes alzapan · Flask-Shaped Pitcher-Plant · Nepenthes andamana · Nepenthes angasanensis

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Nepenthes distillatoria by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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