THE FLOWERING PHENOLOGY AND FLORAL BIOLOGY OF <em>NEPENTHES</em> <em>MACFARLANEI</em> (NEPENTHACEAE) FROM MT. PURUN, PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

Abstract

The phenology and flower development from opening to senescence and fruit formation was observed in 44 mature plants of Nepenthes macfarlanei Hemsl. at Mt. Purun, Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia. These plants flowered continuously throughout the 23-month phenological observation. Of these 73% plants were pistillate plants while the remaining 27% were staminate plants. The sampled population produced 1588 pistillate and 3183 staminate flowers during the period. There was a distinct peak period where 57.7% of the pistillate flowers and 74.6% of staminate flowers reached anthesis synchronously. The staminate and pistillate inflorescences required 4-7 weeks after emergence from leaf sheaths for the first bud to reach anthesis. Stigma receptivity occurred at any
time of the day while anther dehiscence occurred between 0630 and 1700 hours. Fertilised flowers developed into mature fruits in 20-26 weeks. The mature fruit produced an average of 136 seeds but only two-thirds of the seeds were mature. The sampled population was estimated to produce approximately 200 000 mature seeds during the phenological period. There was a high mortality of pistillate plants towards the end of the period.