Hortus Botanicus Leiden, Netherlands

Common name: Bokors bekerplant

Family: Nepenthaceae (East Indian Pitcher-plant)

Synonym: Nepenthes bokor

Distribution: Cambodia: Mount Bokor

CITES: Appendix II

Life form: Climber

Comments: The name Nepenthes is derived from Greek and means anti (‘ne’) sadness (‘penthos’), maybe because the liquid in the unopened pitchers was believed to be drinkable. Nepenthes species can form two different types of pitchers: lower pitchers and upper pitchers. Bokor’s pitcher plant only occurs on Mount Bokor in southern Cambodia. It is a climbing plant that can grow up to 7 metres long, the pitchers grow up to 25 cm long, the inflorescence up to 1m. This species was only described as late as 2009 by F.S. Mey, although the first herbarium specimen was collected already in 1904. It original habitat on Mount Bokor has now been seriously damaged by the construction of a new tourist resort. Most of the insects caught in the pitchers of Nepenthes bokorensis are ants; of these, 10 different species have been found and identified to date.
Growing this plant from seed is not always easy, because there are separate male and female plants. It is easier to propagate it from cuttings.