One of the exquisite tropical wonders of Philippines is its largest pitcher plant Nepenthes attenboroughii which is famous for its large bell shaped upper and lower pitchers. This amazing specie is recorded as producing very large pitchers in the world. This species was named in the honor of Sir David Attenborough who was a natural history broadcaster. This wonderful pitcher plant is found only in the mountain range of Palawan in Philippines.

Nepenthes attenboroughii , the largest pitcher plant of Philippines

Apparently, due to its close resemblance with Nepenthes Rajah, it seems a close relative of this pitcher plant of Borneo. Nepenthes attenboroughii was discovered just few years ago in 2007 by Alastair S. Robinson, Stewart R. McPherson and Volker B. Heinrich during a 2 month research expedition to catalogue the different species of pitcher plant found across the Philippine Archipelago.

This species was named in the honor of Sir David Attenborough.

Nepenthes attenboroughii, the largest pitcher plant of Philippines is a terrestrial upright or scrambling shrub. The stem, which may be up to 3.5 cm thick, is circular in cross section and attains a height of up to 1.5 m. The leaves are coriaceous and sessile or sub-petiolate. The leaves of rosettes are up to 30 cm long and 10 cm wide, whereas those of the scrambling stem are up to 40 cm long and 15 cm wide. The leaves are oblong to elliptic. As it is described earlier , the pitchers of the Nepenthes attenborroughii are very large which create tube-like leaf structures into which insects and other small animals tumble and become trapped. Even the botanists are of the view that the pitchers are so big that they can catch rats as well as insects in their leafy trap.

Roraima or Mount Roraima is the highest of the Pakaraima chain of tepui plateau in South America. Roraima , the outstanding tepui of South America is located in the isolated and mystic island of the Venezuela which is covered with dark forests. Tepui can be understood as the flat-topped mountains or plateaus which are existed in this part of the world. The literal meaning of  tepui is “house of the gods” and it is a word of the local language of the Pemon, the indigenous people who inhabit the Gran Sabana. Most of these tepuis are permanently disappearing in mist and clouds, even during the dry season. The climate of this area is rainy and stormy. The surfaces of some of the tepuis are wet and covered with vegetation and some of these tepuis have been washed by rainfall and shaped them like erected steeps.

Mount_Roraima_South America

Roraima is one of the most popular tepui which came in limelight in 1912 when Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle published his fictional novel entitled “ The Lost World “. Roraima is a tabletop mountain with sheer 400-metre high cliffs on all sides.Roraima  includes the triple border point of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana. Roraima almost observes daily rainfall which has clearly wiped out the plantation on the flat surface of Mount Roraima. Such climate has also created some of the highest waterfalls of the world like Angel fall which is just 130 miles away on a similar tepui.  The highest point of Mount Roraima is Maverick Rock which  is existed completely within Venezuela.

Mount Roraima is the ideal land for botanists, zoologists, geologists,  ecologists and other scientists for extracting the knowledge from these amazing formations. Roraima, the outstanding tepui of South America has historical identification also as it has remained the source of ancient myths and legends. The indigenous people of the region known as the Gran Sabana considered it as the as the top of a mighty tree that was the source of all of the fruits and vegetables in the world. Although there are only a few swamplands on Roraima where vegetation grows, yet it has unique species of plants like carnivorous pitcher plant.