Nepenthes lavicola is a tropical pitcher plant

Pitcher plant

Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants whose prey-trapping mechanism features a deep cavity filled with liquid known as a pitfall trap. It has been widely assumed that the various sorts of pitfall trap evolved from rolled leaves, with selection pressure favouring more deeply cupped leaves over...

 species endemic to northern Sumatra

Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...

. It is thought to be most closely related to N. singalana

Nepenthes singalana

Nepenthes singalana is a highland Nepenthes pitcher plant species native to the island of Sumatra. It is most closely related to N. diatas and N. spathulata.-Taxonomy:...

and N. spectabilis

Nepenthes spectabilis

Nepenthes spectabilis is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Sumatra, where it grows at elevations of between 1400 and 2200 m above sea level. The specific epithet spectabilis is Latin for "visible" or "notable".-Botanical history:...

.

Nepenthes lavicola is notable for its very prominent bract

Bract

In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...

s, which often overarch the flowers and may be up to 7 cm long at the base of female inflorescence

Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

s. This species is also unusual in that it bears up to two bracts per pedicel or partial peduncle.

Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 botanist Albert Friedrich Frey-Wyssling mentioned N. lavicola in a 1931 article as an unidentified Nepenthes species.

Differences between N. lavicola, N. singalana and N. spectabilis (Wistuba & Rischer, 1996)

Character	N. lavicola	N. singalana	N. spectabilis
Shape of lower pitchers	urceolate to globose	basal part infundibuliform, cylindrical in the upper part	ovate in the lower part, cylindrical in the upper part
Shape of upper pitchers	slender, lower part infundibuliform to ovate then ventricose, slightly hipped in the middle narrowing to the somewhat waisted cylindrical upper part	lower half infundibuliform, mostly ventricose in the middle, cylindrical or slightly narrowed towards the mouth	infundibuliform in the lower half, tubulose in the upper half
Colour of pitchers	usually dark brownish purple to almost black, peristome yellowish green, sometimes with red stripes, occasionally colour of pitchers yellowish green with blackish spots, innerside of the pitchers pale green, in the lower pitchers red spotted	light green to dark red, violett spotted or not	light green, with numerous longitudinal dark violett - brown stripes and spots
Lid	ovate-cordate	suborbicular, cordate at the base	orbiculate
Spur	up to 0.5 cm in length, branched in case of lower pitchers	2-3 mm, slightly flattened, not branched	2 cm in length, simple
Spur insertion	close to the lid base	close to the lid	5-10 mm below the lid base
Floral bracts	bracts very prominent, usually overarching the flowers, some of the lower ones reaching several cm in length	male: filiform bract, female: without bract	pedicels bearing filiform bracts
Fruit	2-3 times as long as broad, up to 1.8 cm long	up to 30 mm long	very slender, 4-5 cm in length

Nepenthes lavicola has no known natural hybrids. No forms or varieties have been described.