Rajah Pitcher Plant
Rajah Pitcher Plant
Nepenthes rajah
Plantae
ENDANGERED

Stats

Lifespan
Up to 30 yrs
Size
Huge
Diet
Carnivore
Biome
Tropical montane forest
Range
Borneo
Movement
Sessile
Breeding
Seeds
Defense
Toxins
Status
Endangered

About

The world's largest carnivorous plant by pitcher volume, Nepenthes rajah produces pitchers that hold up to 3.5 litres of digestive fluid and are wide enough to trap rats, frogs, and insects. It grows only on the ultramafic slopes of Mount Kinabalu and Mount Tambuyukon in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.

Life cycle

  1. 1.
    seed
    A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
  2. 2.
    sprout
    A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
  3. 3.
    sapling
    A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
  4. 4.
    mature
    Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom
Plantae
Phylum
Tracheophyta
Class
Magnoliopsida
Order
Caryophyllales
Family
Nepenthaceae
Genus
Nepenthes
Species
Nepenthes rajah