St. John wrote the following account of finding the species near the Marai Parai plateau:[6][8] Crossing the Hobang, a steep climb led us to the western spur, along which our path lay; here, at about 4000 ft [1200 m], Mr. Low found a beautiful white and spotted pitcher-plant which he considered the prettiest of the twenty-two species of Nepenthes with which he was then acquainted; the pitchers are white and covered in a most beautiful manner with spots of an irregular form, of a rosy pink colour.Frederick William Burbidge was one of the first to collect the plant in 1878, although he did not succeed in introducing it into cultivation.

[6] The type specimen of N. burbidgeae, Burbidge s.n., was collected on the Marai Parai plateau of Mount Kinabalu and is deposited at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

MSS., is a lovely thing, as yet unintroduced : pitchers pure white, semi-translucent like egg-shell, porcelain-white, with crimson or blood-tinted blotches.

It is a very distinct plant, with triangular stems, 50 feet long, and the margins of the leaves decurrent.In 1894, Otto Stapf identified specimens belonging to N. burbidgeae as N. phyllamphora,[4] a taxon that is now considered synonymous with N. mirabilis.

This name is considered a sphalma typographicum (misprint) of N. burbidgeae,[9] although it appeared in a number of other works by authors such as[14] Odoardo Beccari (1886),[15] John Muirhead Macfarlane (1908),[16] and Elmer Drew Merrill (1921).

This is reflected in the writing of B. H. Danser in his seminal 1928 monograph, "The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies",[note a] where he suggests a close relative in N. pilosa:[14] This species has only been found twice on Mt.

N. pilosa, though doubtless the most nearly related species, is certainly different.In 1981, Australian botanist Allen Lowrie reported that the fluid in unopened pitchers of N. burbidgeae is effective in stopping external bleeding.

[23] The altitudinal range of this species is often quoted as 1200–1800 m above sea level,[7][24] but some sources give a lower limit of 1100 m[22] and upper limit of 2250 m[25] or even 2300 m.[22] Mount Kinabalu was only formed around 1 million years ago and, during the last ice age (approximately 20,000 to 10,000 years ago), it had an ice cap on its summit.

[6] Nepenthes burbidgeae can often be found growing amongst populations of N. edwardsiana, N. rajah, and N. tentaculata, and hybrids with all of these species have been recorded.

Forest fires broke out in 9 locations in Kinabalu Park, covering a total area of 25 square kilometres and generating large amounts of smog.

Since then, Ansow Gunsalam has established a nursery close to the Mesilau Lodge at the base of Kinabalu Park to protect the endangered species of that area, including N. burbidgeae.

[1] This does not agree with an informal assessment made by Charles Clarke in 1997, who classified the species as Vulnerable based on the IUCN criteria.

However, Clarke noted that since all known populations of N. burbidgeae lie within the boundaries of Kinabalu National Park and are inaccessible to collectors, they "are unlikely to become threatened in the foreseeable future".

[7] Nepenthes burbidgeae is easily distinguished from other species in the genus on the basis of its pitcher shape and colouration, as well as the hook-shaped appendage on the underside of the lid.

[7] Nepenthes × alisaputrana was described in 1992 by J. H. Adam and C. C. Wilcock and is named in honour of Datuk Lamri Ali, Director of Sabah Parks.

[32] It is only known from a few remote localities within Kinabalu National Park, where it grows in stunted, open vegetation over serpentine soils at around 2000 m above sea level, often amongst populations of N. burbidgeae.

The distributions of these in the hybrid N. × alisaputrana and its putative parental species N. burbidgeae and N. rajah are shown in the adjacent table.

This agrees with the findings of previous authors[34][35] and suggests that the absence of a widely distributed compound like myricetin among the Nepenthes examined might provide additional diagnostic information for these taxa.

In Insect-Eating Plants and How to Grow Them, Adrian Slack wrote that cuttings of N. burbidgeae were more difficult to root than those of other Nepenthes species.

[33][36][37] In 2004, professional horticulturist Robert Sacilotto published a summary of measured tolerances of highland Nepenthes species, based on experiments conducted between 1996 and 2001.

[38] Nepenthes burbidgeae was found to be tolerant of a fairly wide range of conditions, particularly in terms of temperature and soil composition; it grew in every substrate used in the experiment.

However, constant exposure to high humidity in excess of 90% resulted in disease outbreaks and increased plant death rates.

Nepenthes burbidgeae could be grown in lower light conditions, but such plants exhibited etiolated growth and reduced colouration.

The species was found to respond well to a fertilizer that was applied to the pitchers on a monthly basis, but a foliar feed using the same solution produced no visible change in growth rate.

[38] Folia mediocria petiolata, lamina elliptica, nervis longitudinalibus utrinque 3-4, vagina in alas 2 decurrente: ascidia rosularum et inferiora ignota ; ascidia superiora infundibuliformia, parte inferiore costis 2 prominentibus, os versus alis 2 fimbriatis ; peristomio operculum versus in collum ; 1-2 cm altum elevato, cylindrico, crebre costato, operculo late cordato, facie inferiore prope basin carina valida ; inflorescentia ignota ; indumentum in omnibus partibus iuventute pubescens, statu adulto parcum v. deciduum, in margine foliorum persistens.