Narrative

Nepenthes hookeriana appears to be a natural hybrid found in Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borneo. (Nepenthes rafflesiana cross Nepenthes ampullaria)

This lifeform is found in the Malay pennisula.

Nepenthes genus of tropical pitcher plants is native to the countries that surround the Indian Ocean from Madagascar east to Australia with many species found in the Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo area. There are about 70 herbs in this genus. Some are semi-woody, and many are climbing. The leaves are usually entire with the main vein extending into a climbing tendril. These are carnivorous plants. As of 1994 none of these species were considered established in greater North America.

Nepenthes Group (Nepenthaceae Family) is of a woody nature and many species are vines. The leaves are alternate and shaped to make an insect-catching pitcher. This family is found from Madagascar to Australia.

Insect Eating Plants (Order Sarraceniales) are usually broken into three different families.

Dicots (Dicotyledoneae Class) are the predominant group of vascular plants on earth. With the exception of the grasses (Monocots) and the Conifers (Gymnosperms), most of the larger plants that one encounters are Dicots. Dicots are characterized by having a seed with two outer shell coverings.

Some of the more primitive Dicots are the typical hardwood trees (oaks, birches, hickories, etc). The more advanced Dicots include many of the Composite (Aster) Family flowers like the Dandelion, Aster, Thistles, and Sunflowers. Although many Monocots reach a very high degree of specialization, most botanists feel that the Dicots represent the most advanced group of plants.

Seed plants (Phylum Embryophyta) are generally grouped into one large phylum containing three major classes: the Gymnosperms, the Monocots, and the Dicots. (Some scientists separate the Gymnosperms into a separate phylum and refer to the remaining plants as flowering plants or Angiospermae.)

For North American counts of the number of species in each genus and family, the primary reference has been John T. Kartesz, author of A Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland (1994). The geographical scope of his lists include, as part of greater North America, Hawaii, Alaska, Greenland, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Kartesz lists 21,757 species of vascular plants comprising the ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants as being found in greater North America (including Alaska, Hawaii, Greenland, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

There are estimates within the scientific world that about half of the listed North American seed plants were originally native with the balance being comprised of Eurasian and tropical plants that have become established.