Nepenthes Tenuis

Nepenthes tenuis (; from Latin tenuis 'thin, fine, slender') is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The species was first collected in 1957, from a remote mountain in the western part of the island. It remained undescribed until 1994, and was only rediscovered in the wild in 2002. Prior to this, N. tenuis was known solely from a single photograph and dried herbarium specimen.

Discovery and Naming

Nepenthes tenuis was first collected by Willem Meijer on August 24, 1957.[note a] It was discovered near Taram, West Sumatra, in a sandstone region of the river Tjampo. The plants were growing on a ridge at approximately 1,000 m above sea level, making N. tenuis an intermediate species. The habitat was described as "light sub-montane forest".

Nepenthes tenuis was formally described[note b] as a species in 1994 by Joachim Nerz and Andreas Wistuba, based on a single specimen deposited by Meijer at the Leiden herbarium[note c] and a black and white photograph from 1957 showing the freshly collected plant. After several failed expeditions, the species was finally rediscovered in the wild in late 2002 by a team comprising Andreas Wistuba, Joachim Nerz, Michael Schach, and others.