It is considered one of the most spectacular of all Nepenthes, producing some of the largest pitchers and the most highly developed peristome ribs of any species in the genus.

[2] Hooker named the species after George Edwardes, Governor of the Crown Colony of Labuan, at the request of his friend Hugh Low.

[4][2][note b] Hooker's original description and illustration were reproduced in Spenser St. John's Life in the Forests of the Far East, published in 1862.

[8] St. John wrote the following account of N. edwardsiana on Mount Kinabalu:[8] As we ascended, we left the brushwood and entered a tangled jungle, in which few of the trees were large.

The spur of the mountain became very narrow, sometimes not much wider than the path, and was greatly encumbered at one part by the twining stems of the Nepenthes Edwardsiana.

This handsome plant was not, however, much diffused along the spur, but confined to a space about a quarter of a mile in length, and climbed upon the trees around, with its fine pitchers hanging from all the lower boughs.

The pitchers of the young creepers precisely resemble those of the older ones, except in size.Alfred Russel Wallace made brief mention of N. edwardsiana in his famous work The Malay Archipelago, first published in 1869: "Another, Nepenthes Edwardsiania, has a narrow pitcher twenty inches long; while the plant itself grows to a length of twenty feet".

The first work to include significant taxonomic revisions was that of Günther Beck von Mannagetta und Lerchenau in 1895, "Die Gattung Nepenthes".

[3] He also published the name Nepenthes edgeworthii based on a specimen collected in Borneo by Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach.

[24] B. H. Danser treated N. edwardsiana in synonymy with N. villosa in his seminal monograph, "The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies", published in 1928.

On Mount Kinabalu, this species has been recorded from the Marai Parai plateau, East Ridge, Upper Kolopis River,[27] and an area below the Kambarangoh Telekom station (below Pondok Lowii).

[4][5] Anthea Phillipps and Anthony Lamb note that plants growing in the Racemobambos bamboo forest on Mount Tambuyukon produce some of the longest and finest pitchers, having a pronounced waist and ranging in colour from pink to reddish-orange.

[42] Contrary to the observations of Frederick William Burbidge,[43] N. edwardsiana grows not only as an epiphyte, but also occurs terrestrially on moss-covered rocks.

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. edwardsiana.

[46] However, Charles Clarke notes that since all known populations of N. edwardsiana lie within the boundaries of Kinabalu National Park and are inaccessible to collectors, they "are unlikely to become threatened in the foreseeable future".

[5] Taking this into account, Clarke suggests a revised assessment of Conservation Dependent based on the IUCN criteria.

[26] In Nepenthes of Mount Kinabalu, published in 1976, Shigeo Kurata supported this interpretation based on field observations and reference to the type descriptions.

As noted by Danser, the indumentum of these species also differs, with N. villosa being densely hirsute throughout and N. edwardsiana having an inconspicuous covering of very short hairs.

[5] Botanists Matthew Jebb and Martin Cheek suggest that N. edwardsiana is related to N. mira, a species endemic to Palawan in the Philippines.

However, N. villosa plants from Mount Tambuyukon are easier to confuse with this hybrid, as they produce pitchers that may be elongated slightly above the hip.

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

The seedlings grew very slowly during the first 8 months, but their growth rate increased significantly after they reached approximately 2 cm in diameter.

Dried fruit fly larvae of the species Drosophila melanogaster were fed to the plants once their pitchers reached around 3 mm in height.

— Foliis (6" longis) crasse coriaceis longe petiolatis ellipticis, ascidiis magnis crasse pedunculatis cylindraceis basi ventricosis 8—18" longis, ore lamellis annularibus distantibus rigidis magnis cristato, collo elongato erecto operculo cordato-rotundato, racemo simplici, rachi pedicellisque ferrugineo-tomentosis.—(Tab.

The leaves, ascidia, and pitchers sent by Mr. Low are all old, and nearly glabrous; but the young parts,—rachis, peduncles of the panicle, and the calyx—are covered with ferruginous tomentum.

Folia 20—30 cm longa X 6—10 cm lata, coriacea, petiolata; petiolus 6—10 cm longus, validus, alatus, basis ad 2/3 amplexicaulis, alae non v. leviter decurrentes pilis longis fuscis sparsis obsitae; lamina elliptica v. oblonga inferne in petiolum angustata, ad apicem rotundata v. in cirrhum attenuata, supra glabra subtus glabra et punctata, marginibus et costa ± hirsuta, nervi longitudinales 4—5 obscuri, par intimum 25—35 mm, par secundum 29—40 mm, par tertium 30—44 mm, par quartum 31—43 mm a costa remotum, nervi transversi radiantes v. ascendentes, 2—3 mm inter se separati; cirrhus 30—60 cm longus X 3—6 mm crassus, cylindricus, in basim ascidii recurvatam abrupte ampliatus, juventute dense ferrugineo-pubescens demum glaber; ascidia 20—50 cm longa, X 4—7 cm lata, monomorphia, ± puberula v. glabra, dimidio inferiore leviter ventricosa et coeruleo-viridia, dimidio superiore cylindrica, rubra, alae ventrales 0, v. a basi sursum gradatim ampliatae et ± ciliatae, os subcirculare; peristomium magnum 1,5—2 cm latum, obliquum, postice in collum 3—5 cm altum elongatum, caro tinctum, superficie in lamellas transversas 6—8 mm profundas et 4—8 mm inter se separatas elevata, margo exterior recurvatus, interior in dentes magnos deflexus; operculum 6—10 cm longum X 5—9 cm latum, cordato-ovatum v. cordato-orbiculare, extus glabrum intus glandulosum, glandulae multae, parvae, dense aggregatae; ascidium intus per dimidium superius v. profundius glaucopurpureum opacum et deducens, inferne nitidum glandulosum et detinens, glandulae superne parvae discretae profunde immersae, inferne magnae approximatae et subexsertae.

Sepala elliptica v. obovata, extus ferrugineo-pubescentia, intus glandulis paucis parvis mediis adspersa.

Columna staminea 3 mm longa, inferne ferrugineo-pubescens superne glabra; antherae 8—12, uniseriatae v. antheris duabus superioribus transversis.

S. W. Malayische Provinz; Borneo: Auf der nördlichen Seite des Berges Kina Balu bis 2000 m (Low!