Nepenthes Definition & Meaning

Origin of Nepenthes

From Latin nēpenthes, from Ancient Greek νηπενθής (nēpenthēs, “sorrow-banishing”) (neuter), from νη- (nē-, “not”) + πένθος (penthos, “grief”).

From Wiktionary

Nepenthes may be mentioned as a genus specially developed in the Malayan area, and extending from New Caledonia to Madagascar; it is found as far north as the Khasi hills, and in Ceylon, but does not appear on the Himalaya or in the peninsula of India.
The plant generally understood by this name is Nepenthes, a genus containing nearly sixty species, natives of tropical Asia, north Australia and (one only) of Madagascar.
The Sarraceniaceae contain the genera Sarracenia, Darlingtonia, Heliamphora, while the true pitcher plants or Nepenthaceae consist of the single large genus Nepenthes.
The forty species of Nepenthes are mostly natives of the hotter parts of the Indian Archipelago, but a few range into Ceylon, Bengal, Cochin China, and some even occur in tropical Australia on the one hand, and in the Seychelles and Madagascar on the other.
Among the orders more strongly represented in Sumatra than in Java are the Dipterocarpaceae, Chrysobalanaceae, sclerocarp 1Vlyrtaceae, Melastomaceae, Begonias, Nepenthes, Oxalidaceae, Myristicaceae, Ternstrbmiaceae, Connaraceae, Amyridaceae, Cyrtandraceae, Epacridaceae and Eriocaulaceae.

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