Which English botanical illustrator is honored by Nepenthes northiana?

Marianne North is the English botanical illustrator honored by Nepenthes northiana. The species’ specific epithet commemorates North, who was the first person to depict it for science and horticulture.

North encountered specimens from the Bau area of Sarawak, Borneo, and painted the striking pitcher plant in the 1870s. Her illustration attracted the attention of Harry Veitch, whose firm sent the collector Charles Curtis to obtain living material and seeds.

Joseph Dalton Hooker formally named the species in 1881. Its type specimen was collected near Jambusan in 1876 and is held at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; North’s painting is displayed in the Marianne North Gallery there.

A common mix-up is confusing the person honored in the name with the botanist who described it. North was the artist and namesake, while Hooker published the scientific description. N. northiana is a Bornean limestone specialist, known for large, vividly blotched pitchers.