Pitcher plants at Kinabalu National Park

These jug-shaped containers trap insects that are then slowly digested to become nutrients for the plant.

Carnivorous plants They are indeed that and more.

Kinabalu National Park in Sabah, which includes Mt Kinabalu, the highest mountain in Southeast Asia, is thought to be the cradle of the evolution of the Nepenthes pitcher plant because 12 of the 80 species found in the world grow here. This is the highest concentration of species in one place.

Kinabalu Park, officially gazetted in 1964, became Malaysia's first Unesco World Heritage site in 2000.

It is no wonder then, that most visitors to Sabah in search of pitcher plants make a bee-line for this park, reported Malaysia's The Star.

Besides the trails around the Park headquarters and the Mt Kinabalu Summit Trail, two Nepenthes Gardens have been established to enable visitors to view these exotic plants in semi-natural conditions.

The most easily accessible trail is found in Mesilau, which is within the boundaries of Kinabalu Park, just 45 kilometres from the park headquarters.

The guided tour into the carefully conserved Nepenthes Rajah Natural Site is a two-hour return hike starting at 11:30am daily from the Mesilau Nature Conservation Centre. Visitors have to pay a RM5 entrance/conservation fee (C$1.50).

Friendly and knowledgeable park guides take visitors on an interesting 45-minute uphill slog past a scenic suspension bridge and a well-maintained jungle track, most sections of which have helpful banisters.

The trail up to the highest point, the site of the Nepenthes Rajah, is quite a manageable climb for the reasonably fit.

Waterfalls on the way up to Mount Kinabalu

The pictures should not be used for commercial gain, only for scientific research or education, awareness promotion and conservation.

The first species most encounter are the Nepenthes burbidgeae, a rarely seen species because of its 1,700-2,100 metres-above-sea-level (a.s.l.) habitat. It thrives in mossy forests and on serpentine soil.

Its elongated leaves, like all pitcher plants, end in tendrils that twine around other plants. These tendrils can develop into light green or ivory-white, 20 centimetre, trumpet-like pitchers with maroon markings.

It is named after its discoverer, Frederick Burbidge, a naturalist who explored Mt Kinabalu in the 1800s. The lip or peristome of the pitcher is striped green and maroon.

To the top of the trail visitors are greeted by the spectacular Nepenthes Rajah, which produces the largest natural pitchers in the world. This species is known to exhibit 50 centimetre high pitchers.

A famous postcard shows a local Sabah boy, Hin Ching, holding a Nepenthes Rajah almost half his height. This postcard alone must have prompted many visitors to rush to Kinabalu Park to see the N. Rajah.

The N. Rajah is the most well-known pitcher plant because of its large size (25cm-60cm), globe-like shape and huge lid. The lids of pitcher plants are designed to shelter the pitchers from rain, which will dilute their digestive juices.

In some species though, these lids have lost their original purpose.

The red peristome of the Rajah is broad and scalloped and the inner edges are lined with short fine teeth designed to prevent insects from crawling up the smooth interior walls to escape.

The Rajah pitcher is usually purplish brown and with its vaulted lid, it has been irreverently compared to a toilet bowl. Its fat, squat shape means it tends to be terrestrial, lying around on the forest floor.

Pitcher plants - a botanical oddity

Start your hike as early as possible so that you don't have to hurry to reach Laban Rata. The Timpohon Gate opens at 7.30am daily.

Two of the most fascinating species you will encounter is the N. Iowii, with its easily recognisable waisted pitchers and the tan-coloured N. Kinabaluensis, a natural hybrid.

Kinabalu Park is the most scientifically- studied area in Malaysia because of its rich biodiversity. Mt Kinabalu, with its stark glaciated peaks soaring above the tree line, is surely the most attractive yet challenging mountain in our country to scale.

Lastly, if you are climbing the Summit Trail of Mt Kinabalu, do inform your guide that you are interested in seeing pitcher plants.