Nepenthes × Bloody Mary

Nepenthes × Bloody Mary is a primary hybrid of two spectacular parent species, Nepenthes ventricosa and Nepenthes ampullaria . Its pitcher shape strongly resembles Nepenthes ampullaria , but its growth is robust and rapid, like that of Nepenthes ventricosa . The pitchers are an absolutely vibrant red. It's difficult to convey their intensity in photos. The color is reminiscent of the bright red of a truly excellent tomato ;) The pitchers reach about 15 cm in length, but usually remain somewhat smaller. It produces a remarkably large number of pitchers simultaneously.

Also striking is the recurved lid, which it inherited from N. ampullaria . This allows rainwater to fall directly into the pitcher. This isn't a problem for N. ampullaria , as this species doesn't hunt insects and lacks digestive fluids to break down prey that would be diluted by rainwater. Instead , N. ampullaria collects fallen leaves from trees, which are decomposed by microorganisms in the pitchers to obtain nutrients (it is therefore a vegetarian carnivorous plant).

Nepenthes × Bloody Mary also has this recurved lid, but still possesses digestive fluid (inherited from its other parent, N. ventricosa ). Therefore, care should be taken to ensure that the pitchers are not filled too high with water, for example, when misting the plant or keeping it outdoors in summer (which is very beneficial!), as otherwise the digestive fluid will be too diluted to function properly.