Nepenthes philippinensis
This species has long, scrambling vines and are often climbers, accessing the canopy of their habitats using tendrils that stretches out and twines around any suitable support. It produces more pitchers and flowers on a single plant compared to all known species of nepenthes in Palawan. There are several color variants, but the lower pitchers are usually reddish and the upper pitchers or traps are green or yellowish.
This lowland species is widespread in Palawan and can be found thriving in soils with low nutrient availability and high concentrations of heavy metals like nickel and chromium. Like all carnivorous plants, this pitcher plant can grow in locations where the soil is too poor in minerals and/or too acidic for most plants to be able to grow. It colonizes open areas in abandoned mining sites, river edges, old landslides and clearings in ultramafic forests.
Its preys are mostly flying or crawling insects that fall and drown inside its pitcher. These insects gradually dissolve and the plant absorbs the nutrients from the decomposing body. Most plants normally obtain the necessary nutrients through their roots, but since this plant grows in ultramafic sites, the soil alone does not provide enough minerals to keep the plants healthy. Its unique ability to obtain food through its pitchers helps in acquiring essential nutrients for survival.
