N. ampullaria "speckled"
purchase date: 3 / 03
arrived as a size 3
plant origin: unsure
photo taken: 7 / 04

N. ampullaria "Cantley's Red"
purchase date: 7 / 03
arrived as a rooted cutting
plant origin: Borneo Exotics
photo taken: 3 / 04

Nepenthes ampullaria is a lowlander that has a flattened opening and a very small lid. It rarely produces any upper pitchers. I've noticed as the plant begins to get taller it will put out many sideshoots from the base of the leaves. This plant comes in a variety of color forms from all green to completely red. A popular hybrid is N. X hookeriana which is a naturally occurring hybrid between N. ampullaria and N. rafflesiana. A rather nice looking cross I might add. I originally purchased the solid green variety to try outdoors but unfortunately it didn't do well. N. ampullaria has somewhat papery leaves which is not condusive to outdoor, low humidity growth. The leaves turn brown and the plant stresses heavily.  However, both of my plants are doing well as windowsill plants with few problems. At times pitchers will curl up and die due to lower humidity. The same holds true for leaf damage. Other than that, this species will do fine as a windowsill specimen. Be careful to avoid direct sunlight and leaf burn. Because of the unique pitcher shape, size, and growing habits I think N. ampullaria is a great plant to add to the collection.

Cultivation: difficult to impossible outdoors; moderate as a windowsill plant, expect some imperfections due to lower humidity; easy under normal lowland conditions.
Market availability: size 3 to rooted cuttings; common
Species variability: many; green, spotted, speckled, tricolor, "Cantley's red", "Hot lips", and other locality and cultivar names
$ / size: inexpensive to expensive; $15.00 - $100.00 +  for multicolored large cuttings.
Cuttings: none available for trade
Sex: unknown