Nepenthes × cincta is a natural hybrid between N. albomarginata

Nepenthes albomarginata

Nepenthes albomarginata , the White-Collared Pitcher-Plant, is a tropical pitcher plant native to Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia, and Sumatra...

and N. northiana

Nepenthes northiana

Nepenthes northiana , or Miss North's Pitcher-Plant, is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Borneo, where it grows at elevations ranging from 0 to 500 m above sea level. The specific epithet northiana honours Marianne North, who first illustrated the species...

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N. × cincta is a rare plant and, due to the localised distribution of N. northiana, only grows at a few sites in Bau, Sarawak

Bau, Sarawak

Bau is a gold mining town in the Kuching Division of Sarawak, Malaysia. Smuggling with Kalimantan is also important to the local economy.-History:...

, usually on a substrate

Substrate (biology)

In biology a substrate is the surface a plant or animal lives upon and grows on. A substrate can include biotic or abiotic materials and animals. For example, encrusting algae that lives on a rock can be substrate for another animal that lives on top of the algae. See also substrate .-External...

 of limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

. N. × cincta is one of only three known natural hybrids involving N. northiana, the others being N. × bauensis and a cross with N. mirabilis

Nepenthes mirabilis

Nepenthes mirabilis , or the Common Swamp Pitcher-Plant, is a tropical carnivorous plant species of the pitfall trap variety. It has by far the widest distribution of any Nepenthes species and is known from the following countries and regions: Borneo, Sumatra, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia,...

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The traits of N. albomarginata are very dominant in this hybrid; the wide flared peristome of its larger parent species (N. northiana) is almost completely lost. Pitchers are narrowly infundibulate (funnel-shaped) throughout and range in colouration from cream to dusky purple with red or black spots.