Pitcher Plant Stamps of Malaysia

Pitcher plants scientifically known as Nepenthes are one of the most spectacular plant species on earth. The centre of diversity of Nepenthes is in Borneo Island housing 36 species. Malaysia postal authority has on a few occasions released stamps showing images of Nepenthes. So far, four Nepenthes species have been depicted on stamps of Malaysia, i.e. N. sanguinea, N. macfarlanei, N. rajah and N. lowii. N. sanguinea has wider distribution in Peninsular Malaysia while N. macfarlanei is found from Kelantan to Selangor. On the other hand, both N. rajah and N. lowii are endemic to Borneo.

On April 6, 1996, postal authority of Malaysia released a set of four stamps on topic of pitcher plants. Four pitcher plant species were depicted on the stamps, i.e. N. sanguinea, N. macfarlanei, N. rajah and N. lowii. The stamps were printed in format of setenat pair.

left: N. sanguinea; right: N. macfarlanei
left: N. rajah; right: N. lowii


On December 31, 1999, postal authority of Malaysia released a set of 10 stamps to commemorate the new millennium. One of the stamps shows an image of pitcher plant. The pitcher plant species depicted in the stamp is N. lowii.

N. lowii

On April 26, 2006, postal authority of Malaysia released a set of four stamps on topic of mountains of Malaysia. One of the stamps depicting Mt. Ledang has an image of pitcher plant. The pitcher plant species on the stamp is N. sanguinea. The most conspicious pitcher plant species at Mt. Ledang is N. sanguinea, and this information is well presented on the stamp.

N. sanguinea