Nepenthes Rowanae

Nepenthes rowaniae (; after Ellis Rowan, Australian naturalist and illustrator) is a species of pitcher plant endemic to the Cape York Peninsula, Australia. It is closely related to N. mirabilis and was once considered an extreme form of this species.

Taxonomy

Between 1881 and 1905, Frederick Manson Bailey described 11 species of Nepenthes from northern Australia, all of which were placed in synonymy with N. mirabilis by B. H. Danser in 1928. The only taxon which Danser considered to possess morphological characters atypical of N. mirabilis was N. rowaniae. He wrote:

"Of all these I have seen the type or at least authentic specimens, but they are nearly all mere growth forms of N. mirabilis. Only N. rowanae shows a character not yet met with in N. mirabilis, viz. campanulate-infundibuliform upper pitchers. A similar aberration, however, is often met with in several allied species and is certainly insufficient for specific distinction."