Nepenthes smilesii
Nepenthes smilesii () is a tropical pitcher plant native to northeastern Thailand, southern Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Nepenthes smilesii can tolerate an extended dry season and is most common in open, sandy savannah and grassland. The specific epithet smilesii refers to plant collector Frederick Henry Smiles, who made the first known collection of this species. Botanical history Nepenthes anamensis is a heterotypic synonym of N. smilesii. Its conservation status appears as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List. Nepenthes smilesii was referred to as N. anamensis throughout most of the 20th century. Further confusion resulted from the erroneous labelling of N. smilesii plants as N. thorelii in the horticultural trade. In Pitcher Plants of the Old World, Stewart McPherson lists N. mirabilis f. smilesii and N. mirabilis var. smilesii as synonyms of N. smilesii, but Marcello Catalano considers these to represent normal forms of N. mirabilis. Description Nepenthes smilesii is a climbing plant growing to a height of 5 m. Its leaves are sessile and coriaceous (leathery) in texture. They are very narrowly linear, reaching 40 cm in length while only up to 4 cm wide. Ecology Nepenthes smilesii has a widespread distribution throughout Indochina. It has been recorded from