Fragrance from Nepenthes

From: Perry Malouf (pmalouf@access.digex.net)
Date: Mon Feb 24 1997 - 12:17:50 PST


Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 15:17:50 -0500 (EST)
From: Perry Malouf <pmalouf@access.digex.net>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg695$foo@default>
Subject: Fragrance from Nepenthes

Hey all you Nepenthes growers,

Have any one of you noticed a mild and sweet
fragrance coming from you plants? Not from
the flowers! (they smell bad)

I haven't noticed this subject being
discussed on the listserver before.

It is prompted by the following
observations.

1) Some time ago a friend of mine brought
me a large and healthy (several vines, many
pitchers) Nepenthes plant from Malaysia.
(Yes it was done legally). He carried
it with him on the plane. When he gave it to me
I put it in the back seat of the car so I could
take it home. During the drive I noticed a faint
but very sweet aroma coming from the plant (it
wasn't coming from my car, that's for sure!). I
attributed this to the nectar on the pitchers.

2) Very recently I've noticed the same smell coming
from the area where I keep my Nepenthes. The plants
are all jammed together so I haven't identified which
plant(s) is(are) causing it. Correlating with this
is the fact that my collection has not undergone any
trauma for a relatively long time. (I'm probably jinxing
myself by posting this.) So, the plants are healthier
than they've been in a long time, and larger, too,
with quite a few pitchers. My collection has never
produced this aroma before, at least detectable by
my nose (which has a large air sampling volume).

Should I take the aroma as a sign that the plants
are very happy?

Surely there are greenhouse-growers out there who
have outstanding Nepenthes specimens, who could share
their experiences on this matter.

Regards,

Perry Malouf



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