*nepenthes*

n. [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_;. See Nepenthe. ] 1. Same as Nepenthe. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) A genus of climbing plants found in tropical areas of India, Malaya, Australia, etc., which have the leaves prolonged into a kind of stout tendril terminating in a pitcherlike appendage, whence the plants are often called pitcher plants and monkey-cups. There are about thirty species, of which the best known is Nepenthes distillatoria. See Pitcher plant. [ 1913 Webster ]