Nepenthes mirabilis

Nepenthes mirabilis is the most widespread Nepenthes species, being found in Northern Australia, PNG, Indonesia, Thailand, Palau, Hong Kong and Singapore amongst others.

In Australia, its most southerly occurence is at Babinda, just south of Cairns, right up through Cape York Peninsula. Until recently, mirabilis was believed to be the only species in Australia. However, field work by Rodney Kruger and others has shown that sufficient changes have occurred in some of the subspecies to elevate them to species rank, notably rowanae which was first described by Bailey.

At this stage, I only grow one variety of mirabilis, which Rod Kruger has labelled var. A. It is a colourful species from Cape York. I also now have several hundred seedlings of this variety.

Mirabilis is an easy grower for a lowland species. It has quite thin leaves and pitchers, which means it does better in high humidity. However, given its wide geographic distribution, it is tolerant of cooler temperatures than many lowland species, and can be acclimatised to lower humidity. The Australian variant of mirabilis are particularly tough, as they must survive in a harsh environment, which can see prolonged droughts, fires and cool temperatures.

Nepenthes mirabilis var. A