Cambodia
(Check the above map to see the notes, or the following map if you want
to see the different Divisions of Cambodia: map1)
1) Bokor n.p. Until
July 2007 this place was hosting an unknown Nepenthes species. The only pictures
that I had been able to find were this, by Don Pirot: pic1, and these other two by
unknown people: pic2 and pic3 (these 2 photos were described as coming
from “southern Cambodia”, so I just guess
they are from Bokor, but I’m not sure). I thought they could be N. smilesii,
despite the striped peristome, considering the location, which is a flat
mountain about 1000 mt high. But then François Mey, from France, went there, he
took a lot of photos, he kindly contacted me and it was then obvious it wasn’t
N. smilesii at all. A few months later I met Martin Cheek at Kew, and he said he is
already going to publish this plant with the name N. bokor !! Read François’ report, look at his
wonderful photos and reflect on his taxonomical thoughts!
2) Kirirom n.p. Nepenthes
here! Read Julien Jedrusiak's report, together with a few pics, here. Look how variable the lower
pitchers of N. smilesii can be!
3) Siem Reap. In 2006 I went to Nong’s
nursery in Bangkok and he showed me a
plant that should come from Siem Reap. We don’t know anything else. Here a
couple of pics: pic1, pic2. They only show the stem and
they’re out of focus, sorry! On the map, the red spot I put on the Siem Reap province
is random.
4) Kampot. That’s both the
name of a province and of its main city. We know
that somewhere here N. kampotiana was found. Martin Cheek, after having better
analyzed the Kampot dry specimens at the Paris herbarium, thinks
that N. kampotiana should in fact be considered as a species on itself,
separated by N. smilesii (pers. comm. Dec. 2007). The two species have a
different indumentum, N. kampotiana being completely glabrous. Martin suggests
that this species range should start in Trat (Thailand),
going on through the coast of Kampot (where the city of Kampot is) and finding
its eastern tip in southern Vietnam. That’s a quite good theory. At the top of
the x-plants page you’ll see a few photos of plants
coming from Cambodia (sp. 1) and arrived in cultivation in the last 30 years,
which resulted to be identical to the plants I found in Trat (see the bottom of
the Trat page) in the last couple of years!
