Fanged pitcher plant

Nepenthes bicalcarata plants are the largest in the genus, climbing up to 20 m into the forest canopy. The cylindrical stem is thicker than that of any other Nepenthes species, measuring up to 3.5 cm in diameter. Internodes are up to 40 cm long.

The leaves of N. bicalcarata are petiolate and coriaceous in texture. The lamina is obovate-lanceolate in form and also reaches huge dimensions, growing to 80 cm in length and 12 cm in width. It is slightly decurrent on the stem, forming two narrow wings. The lamina has indistinct longitudinal veins and numerous pennate veins. The tendrils may be up to 60 cm long and 8 mm wide. They are hollow and swollen near the pitcher, and are the primary residence of the ants. The ants get much of their food from numerous, large extrafloral nectaries.

Although most parts of the plant are very large, the pitchers themselves do not rival those of species such as N. rajah. Nevertheless, they may have a volume of over one litre and grow up to 25 cm high and 16 cm wide. A pair of prominent fringed wings (≤15 mm wide) runs down the front of lower pitchers. These are usually reduced to ribs in aerial pitchers. The peristome (≤20 mm wide) is characteristically flattened and curved inwards. The inner portion of the peristome accounts for around 70% of its total cross-sectional surface length. It bears small but distinct teeth. …

Nepenthes bicalcarata is endemic to Borneo. It is most common in the peat swamp forests of the western coast of the island, which stretch across Sarawak, Sabah, Kalimantan, and Brunei. There it often grows in the shade of the ubiquitous dipterocarp Shorea albida. Nepenthes bicalcarata also occurs in kerangas forest and has even been recorded from white sand heath forests in Sarawak and East Kalimantan. The species is often sympatric with N. ampullaria in these habitats. Specimens growing in undisturbed peat swamp forest, where sunlight is greatly diffused and high humidity prevails, reach the largest dimensions. Nepenthes bicalcarata has a shallow root system that only penetrates the top layer of peat and leaf litter, to a depth of about 25 cm. Below this, high concentrations of tannins and alkaloids render the substrate toxic. Nepenthes bicalcarata is generally found below 300 m in altitude, although Johannes Gottfried Hallier reported a single collection in 1894 from between 700 and 950 m above sea level. The conservation status of N. bicalcarata is listed as Vulnerable on the 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species based on an assessment carried out in 2000. In 1997, Charles Clarke informally classified the species as Near Threatened based on the IUCN criteria. This agrees with the conservation status assigned to N. bicalcarata by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Nepenthes bicalcarata may be cultivated in a similar manner to other members of the genus, though it requires relatively hot and humid conditions. It needs large pots to do well, and temporary halts in growth are often due to becoming root-bound. Re-potting to a larger pot will often result in a rapid size increase. Under satisfactory conditions, this plant will grow quite fast for a Nepenthes, reaching a large size relatively rapidly. Despite naturally occurring in peat swamp forests, N. bicalcarata has been successfully grown in a completely inorganic substrate consisting of one part each of Seramis clay perls, lava gravel, and Lecaton expanded clay perls. Nepenthes bicalcarata has been artificially crossed with N. hirsuta. A particularly robust-pitchered cultivar of this hybrid was named Nepenthes 'Hortulanus Otten', in honour of Karel Otten, former curator of the Botanic Garden in Ghent, Belgium. A cultivar of the artificial cross N. bicalcarata × N. × dyeriana was registered in 1988 under the name Nepenthes 'Nina Dodd'. It is named after a relative of Cliff Dodd, who created the hybrid. Two further cultivars of manmade hybrids involving N. bicalcarata have been named. These are Nepenthes 'Bella' ((N. ampullaria × N. bicalcarata) × N. truncata) and Nepenthes 'Rapa' (N. ampullaria × N. bicalcarata). …

Nepenthes bicalcarata was formally described by Joseph Dalton Hooker in his 1873 monograph, "Nepenthaceae", based on specimens collected by Hugh Low and Odoardo Beccari near the Lawas River in Borneo. The type specimen, Low s.n., is deposited at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Seven years later, Spencer Le Marchant Moore described Nepenthes dyak, based on a specimen (Teijsmann 10962) collected by Johannes Elias Teijsmann from Kapuas River near Sintang in western Borneo. This specimen is also held at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and a duplicate is deposited at the National Herbarium of the Netherlands in Leiden. Nepenthes dyak was later mentioned several more times in the botanical literature, but is now considered conspecific with N. bicalcarta. Nepenthes bicalcarata was introduced to Europe in 1879 by British explorer Frederick William Burbidge, who collected plants for the famous Veitch Nursery. These were cultivated to larger size and distributed in 1881. During this time, interest in Nepenthes had reached its peak. A note in The Gardeners' Chronicle of 1881 mentions the Veitch Nursery's N. bicalcarata as follows:

"Then there is N. bicalcarata, a most robust habited kind with sturdy foliage and bag-like pitchers provided with a vicious-looking rat-trap-like apparatus in its lid which renders it very distinct from its neighbours." Several years after its introduction, N. …