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Nepenthes candalaga
One of the youngest species in this guide. Nepenthes candalaga was collected in May 2021 in the upper montane rainforest of Mount Candalaga in eastern Mindanao, and described in 2022 by Noel Lagunday, Victor Amoroso and colleagues at Central Mindanao University. The name is that of the mountain. It is a slender climber of the group with winged petioles and an appendage beneath the lid, set apart by small banner-shaped wings just below the rim of the pitcher.
No photograph of this species under a Creative Commons licence or in the public domain is in the guide yet.
Identification
A climber with round stems to eight metres long and five millimetres thick, which turn red in sun. The leaves are more or less linear, to 14.5 cm long and about 2.5 cm wide, with three longitudinal nerves and a reddish-brown midrib contrasting with the green blade; the petiole is winged, to 2.5 cm. Upper pitchers are 10 to 15 cm tall and to 4 cm wide, and unlike most relatives broadest just below the peristome. Wings are present only as a small, banner-shaped piece just below the mouth, six millimetres long with two or three fringe filaments, which further down becomes ridges. The mouth is ovate and drawn out at the back into a distinct neck. The peristome is slightly flattened, to three millimetres wide, greenish yellow with narrow maroon bands. The lid is orbicular, two and a half to four centimetres, with an inverted fin-shaped, pointed appendage at the base. The pitchers are marbled red towards the mouth and greenish at the base, creamy yellow inside. The rosette stems with ground pitchers and the male inflorescence were described only in 2024.
Similar species
The authors compared the species with Nepenthes justinae of Mount Hamiguitan. That has three rather than two to three longitudinal nerves, a cordate rather than orbicular lid, a rounded rather than triangular appendage, a bifid spur tip, wings running down the whole front of the pitcher, and a distinct rim in the upper pitcher, which is broadest at the base. The small banner below the mouth and the pitcher widening upwards are the best field characters of Nepenthes candalaga.
The trap and how it works
A pitfall with something unusual about its shape: the pitcher is broadest at the mouth, like a funnel, while most relatives are broadest at the bottom. The smooth waxy zone covers up to 56 per cent of the length, the digestive zone with glands about half a millimetre across the rest. The peristome is ribbed with small tooth-like projections. Under the lid lie small, evenly spread nectar glands a tenth of a millimetre across, also on the appendage. The banner-shaped wing piece just below the mouth might be a last step up for crawling animals, but this has not been studied, and prey data are lacking.
Habitat and ecology
Tropical upper montane rainforest at about 1800 to 2100 m, where the plant scrambles up to ten metres high over tree branches and also grows on the fern Oleandra (B1). Mount Candalaga has three forest types one above the other: lowland rainforest between 800 and 1000 m, lower montane rainforest between 1100 and 1800 m and upper montane rainforest from 1900 to 2100 m. The species has been found only in the top zone. The description mentions no ultramafic soil.
Distribution and elevation
Endemic to Mount Candalaga in the municipality of Maragusan, Davao de Oro province (formerly Compostela Valley), in eastern Mindanao, and found nowhere else. The label in our species list is correct and can be supplemented with the province. The authors estimated the range at less than ten square kilometres.
- Native
Forms and variation
No varieties have been described. Stem, petiole and upper surface of the lid are more or less red depending on the amount of sun. In 2024 Lagunday, Yurong and Amoroso supplemented the description with the rosette stems bearing ground pitchers and the male inflorescence, which were still unknown in 2022. No natural hybrids have been reported.
Where and when to see it
The species grows only in the highest part of Mount Candalaga, above about 1800 m, and climbs in the branches there; so look up and search for pitchers hanging high in the vegetation, marbled red with a greenish-yellow rim. A climb requires local guidance and permission. Parts of the mountain were badly damaged by Typhoon Pablo in 2012; take care with young plants in open, damaged zones.
Conservation status
The species has not yet been assessed by the IUCN (Not Evaluated). The authors rated it Critically Endangered, on account of a range smaller than ten square kilometres. Parts of the mountain were badly damaged by Typhoon Pablo in 2012, and Mount Candalaga has no legal protection, so deforestation and habitat loss are real threats. Like all Nepenthes it is listed in CITES Appendix II.
Scientific name
Nepenthes candalaga | Lagunday & Amoroso, 2022
Nepenthes candalaga was described on 14 July 2022 by Noel Lagunday and Victor B. Amoroso, in Phytotaxa 554(3): 285-292. Mount Candalaga in Maragusan, Davao de Oro, eastern Mindanao, Philippines, in upper montane rainforest at approximately 1,800-2,100 m elevation. The specific epithet refers to the type locality, Mount Candalaga, and is treated as a noun in apposition.
World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), via Plants of the World Online (POWO), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.