photo taken 10 / 04

N. "briggsiana" (left), N lowii "Kinabalu" (right). Notice the lack of lid hairs on the "briggsiana."

photo taken 5 / 05

photo taken: 7 / 05

Nepenthes X briggsiana is a hybrid between N. ventricosa and N. lowii. This particular clone is featured in Peter D'Amato's book The Savage Garden. He has a nice profile of this plant if you care to read up on it. I remember visiting California Carnivores Nursery several years ago and was stopped in the aisle by this plant. As Peter would say, "It's another show stopper." I like the fact that it has the shape of the upper pitchers from N. lowii combined with the hourglass waistline of N. ventricosa. It really is a stunning plant. I've heard there are some other variations from the original hybridization of this plant. Hortus Botanicus grows their clone and another variety referred to as "Atlanta Giant" (I hope that's correct) is out there too. I believe Peter told me his version has more blood red in it than some other clones that are out there. I was fortunate to obtain this plant from him in trade for cuttings. I consider myself extremely lucky to own this plant. 

My other variety of N. briggsiana is what I call "Jeff Shafer". The reason for that is because I bought the rooted cutting from another grower who told me that his original plant had come from Jeff Shafer. He has the website Plants with Attitude. The grower also told me he has the "Peter D'Amato clone as well and they look very similar. What will be interesting is to see what the ultimate sexes will be between the two different clones. I don't know how many different N. X briggsiana clones are out there, but they really are a spectacular hybrid.

Exotica Plants has released their version of N. lowii X N. ventricosa as well. I've noticed that my N. X briggsiana is producing more hourglass "lowii uppers" faster than my Exotica clone. It will be interesting to see how the two plants compare over time. This hybrid is an easy growing highlander that produces fantastic pitchers fairly quickly. I think it grows more like N. ventricosa than N. lowii, but with the stunning pitchers of N. lowii.

Cultivation: easy; moderate grower with hybrid vigor
Market availability: rooted cuttings only; extremely limited
Species variability:  "Hortus Botanicus", "Atlanta Giant", "Peter D'Amato", "Jeff Shafer"
$ / size: collector's plant; $100.00 and up
Cuttings: none available for trade
Sex: unknown