New pitcher plant species discovered in the Philippines

A new species of pitcher plant has been discovered in the Sierra Madre mountains of Aurora province in the Philippines, becoming an addition to the more than 50 native pitcher plant species in the country. Named after Filipino botanist Julie Barcelona who is among those who discovered the species, the red meat-eating Nepenthes barcelonae has very distinctive pitcher shape and mouth. The first-produced pitchers are red, larger and stouter, while the latter ones are green, more slender. The team University of Canterbury lecturer and herbarium curator Pieter Pelser, one of the authors of the paper on this discovery, told Rappler that they found this species during their fieldwork on Philippine rafflesia, a parasitic flower known for its pungent odor. His team categorized the discovered species as “critically endangered” based on international standards.

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