Etymology

With the discovery of new species and Sir Joseph Banks' original introduction of specimens to Europe in 1789, interest in Nepenthes grew throughout the 19th century, culminating in what has been called the "Golden Age of Nepenthes" in the 1880s.^[2][9] However, the popularity of the plants dwindled in the early 20th century, before all but disappearing by World War II. This is evidenced by the fact that no new species were described between 1940 and 1966. The revival of global interest in the cultivation and study of Nepenthes is credited to Japanese botanistShigeo Kurata, whose work in the 1960s and 1970s did much to bring attention to these plants.^[32]

[edit]Etymology

The name Nepenthes was first published in 1737 in Carolus Linnaeus's Hortus Cliffortianus.^[33] It references a passage in Homer's Odyssey, in which the potion "Nepenthes pharmakon" is given to Helen by an Egyptian queen. "Nepenthe" literally means "without grief" (ne = not,penthos = grief) and, in Greek mythology, is a drug that quells all sorrows with forgetfulness.^[9][34] Linnaeus explained:

If this is not Helen's Nepenthes, it certainly will be for all botanists. What botanist would not be filled with admiration if, after a long journey, he should find this wonderful plant. In his astonishment past ills would be forgotten when beholding this admirable work of the Creator! [translated from Latin by Harry Veitch]^[35]

The plant Linnaeus described was Nepenthes distillatoria, a species from Sri Lanka.^[9]

Nepenthes was formally published as a generic name in 1753 in Linnaeus's famous Species Plantarum, which established botanical nomenclature as it exists today. Nepenthes distillatoria is the type species of the genus.^[36]