Nepenthes veitchii x lowii BE 4006 was first introduced February 2020, by Borneo Exotics.  It has took them over 20 years to raise the parent plants from seed to be able to reproduce this natural hybrid and multiply it up in the lab. The original parent plants are natural hybrids that arose from seeds of N. veitchii.  They raised only 2 clones of the parent plants and are very fortunate to have had one of them turn out to be a female and the other male.

Nepenthes veitchii x lowii (parents) produces huge pitchers and is the only plant to have caught small rats in BE’s nurseries. This is likely because it exudes nectar from around the bristles on the underside of the lid, that attracts rodents, a trait it has inherited from N. lowii which evolved an amazing mutualistic relationship with the tree shrew Tupai montana.

Because this is technically N. (veitchii x lowii) x (veitchii x lowii), BE expects to see more than the usual amount of variation in this cross, as it should exhibit the variability usually associated with a hybrid swarm. In other words, whist most clones should resemble the parent plants (both of which look quite similar to one another), they do expect some clones to tend towards either N. veitchii or N. lowii. Please note that new pitchers exhibit a striped peristome, even on large plants, but they gradually darken, as can be seen on the photos of mature pitchers.

Plants are potted in a 4 inch pot, filled with long fiber sphagnum moss and perlite.