N. fusca "Sarawak"
purchase date: 9 / 01
arrived as a size 3
plant origin: Borneo Exotics
photo taken: 9 / 04
N. fusca
purchase date: 4 / 07
arrived as a large plant
plant origin: seed grown from the wild
photo taken: 4 / 07
Nepenthes fusca has long very cylindrical pitchers with a slightly flared peristome. The peristome starts out striped, and then turns almost black. The lid curls up and almost disappears. It is just starting to produce upper pitchers that are different from the black ones. The uppers are striated and have a sloping tubular pitcher. They look very similar in shape to an upper pitcher of N. maxima. Currently, there are many variations of this plant available on the market. My "Sarawak" variety was actually purchased as N. faizaliana. It wasn't until recently that another vendor informed me that my N. faizaliana was actually N. fusca "Sarawak". So there may be other growers that think they have N. faizaliana but are actually growing N. fusca. I have a few other varieties from Borneo Exotics that I grow as well too.
The seed grown plant above is the most interesting to me. I got this plant from a private grower that had been growing it for a while. He said it was grown from seed collected in Sabah off of Kenningau Road. I don't know how big the plant was when the private grower actually acquired the plant. I believe he didn't germinate the seed. This clone isn't as cylindrical as my other fuscas and has a nice reddish striped peristome.
N. fusca doesn't seem to tolerate low temperatures as well as other highlanders. They can go into the 40's but slow down more than my other plants. When the temperatures plunged to low 30's, my Sarawak clone was badly damaged. I've heard of other growers having success growing N. fusca as an intermediate with success. So this species may be more tolerant of warmer night time temperatures than other highlanders.
RATING
intermediate / highlander 1200m-1500m
Cultivation: easy; moderate grower, quick grower
in the vining stage
Market availability: size 3, rooted cuttings,
possible larger plants
Species variability: many; flaired peristome, typical
x dark, Kinabalu, "white", Crocker Range, Sarawak, and other locality names
$ / size: inexpensive to expensive depending on
variation and plant size $20.00 up to $75.00 + for rarer clones
Cuttings: available for trade at times
Sex: Calif. Carnivores female, Sarawak male