Last year in July 2011, I went to Mountain Halimun Salak National Park. I studied morphological variation of Calamus javensis, one species of rattans, in there for my thesis. I spent about 1 week for collecting my samples. Besides collecting samples, I looked around and found many interesting plant species. One of those is Nepenthes gymnamphora. Here is my note about Nepenthes gymnamphora in MHSNP.
Contents:
1. Bukit Andam
2. Nepenthes gymnamphora
3. Morphology of Nepenthes
4.The Function of the Pitcher
1. Bukit Andam
Bukit Andam (1300 m.a.s.l.) is one of amazing places in MHSNP. It is located near Cikaniki Research Station (1000 m.a.s.l.). From Cikaniki Research Station to Bukit Andam, it takes about 45--60 minutes trip. Because of its quite extreme track, healthy body is needed. I suggest you to go jogging one week before you go there.
According to the altitudinal zonation, Bukit Andam is located in submontane forest zone (1000--1500 m.a.s.l). During the trip, we can find many species of trees, like rasamala (Altingia exelsa) and puspa (Schima wallichii), and many species of rattans, like Calamus spp. and rotan badak (Plectocomia elongata).
The higher the altitude, the vegetation changes. When arriving in Bukit Andam, we can see little trees but many shrubs. It is an opened area, dominated by ferns, Gleichenia linearis (Paku Andam). That is why it is called Bukit Andam. This species likes sun light and it can colonizes rapidly in an opened habitat.
