is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese botanist and Nepenthes

Nepenthes

The Nepenthes , popularly known as tropical pitcher plants or monkey cups, are a genus of carnivorous plants in the monotypic family Nepenthaceae. The genus comprises roughly 130 species, numerous natural and many cultivated hybrids...

taxonomist whose work in the 1960s and 1970s contributed much to the current popularity of these plants. Of particular note is his 1976 guide, Nepenthes of Mount Kinabalu

Nepenthes of Mount Kinabalu

Nepenthes of Mount Kinabalu is a monograph by Shigeo Kurata on the tropical pitcher plants of Mount Kinabalu and the surrounding area of Kinabalu National Park in Sabah, Borneo. It was published in 1976 by Sabah National Parks Trustees as the second booklet of the Sabah National Parks series...

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Kurata has described a number of new Nepenthes species, including N. campanulata

Nepenthes campanulata

Nepenthes campanulata , the Bell-Shaped Pitcher-Plant, is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Borneo.Forest fires destroyed the only known population of N. campanulata in 1983 and it was uncertain whether the species had survived elsewhere or was in fact extinct. It was rediscovered in 1997,...

, N. eymae

Nepenthes eymae

Nepenthes eymae is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Sulawesi, where it grows at elevations of 1000–2000 m above sea level. It is very closely related to N. maxima, from which it differs in its wine glass-shaped upper pitchers....

, N. mindanaoensis

Nepenthes mindanaoensis

Nepenthes mindanaoensis is a species of pitcher plant endemic to coastal lateritic hills on Mindanao in the Philippines. It is very closely related to N. alata.-Natural hybrids:*N. alata × N. mindanaoensis...

, N. peltata

Nepenthes peltata

Nepenthes peltata is a tropical pitcher plant known only from the upper slopes of Mount Hamiguitan on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. It is characterised by a peltate tendril attachment and conspicuous indumentum...

, N. rhombicaulis

Nepenthes rhombicaulis

Nepenthes rhombicaulis is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Sumatra. The specific epithet rhombicaulis is formed from the Latin words rhombicus, meaning "rhomboid", and caulis, "stem"...

, and N. saranganiensis

Nepenthes saranganiensis

Nepenthes saranganiensis is a tropical pitcher plant native to the Philippine island of Mindanao. It is very closely related to N. alata, but can be distinguished from that taxon on the basis of its extremely decurrent leaf attachment....

. He also described N. pyriformis

Nepenthes × pyriformis

Nepenthes × pyriformis is a natural hybrid involving N. inermis and N. talangensis. It is known only from Mount Talang in Sumatra, to which N. talangensis is endemic. Nepenthes talangensis was only described as a distinct species in 1994. Prior to this it was placed within N. bongso and some...

, which was subsequently recognised as a natural hybrid by Charles Clarke

Charles Clarke (botanist)

Dr. Charles M. Clarke is a botanist and taxonomist specialising in the carnivorous plant genus Nepenthes. Clarke has an honours degree in Botany from Monash University in Melbourne, and a Ph.D. in Ecosystem Management at the University of New England, in Armidale, New South Wales.Clarke first...

. Other natural hybrids named by Kurata include N. × ferrugineomarginata

Nepenthes × ferrugineomarginata

Nepenthes × ferrugineomarginata is a natural hybrid between N. albomarginata and N. reinwardtiana. Its natural range covers the islands Borneo and Sumatra. The type specimen was collected by Shigeo Kurata in Kenukat, West Kalimantan, in 1981. Kurata described the hybrid the following year.N...

, N. × kinabaluensis, and N. × kuchingensis

Nepenthes × kuchingensis

Nepenthes × kuchingensis is a natural hybrid involving N. ampullaria and N. mirabilis. Although it is named after the city of Kuching, this plant has a wide distribution that covers Borneo, New Guinea, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and Thailand.-References:* Clarke, C.M. & C.C. Lee 2004....

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