This species is perhaps the most unusual in the genus, being characterised by its strongly constricted upper pitchers, which bear a greatly reduced peristome and a reflexed lid with numerous bristles on its lower surface.

[5] Nepenthes lowii was discovered in March 1851 by British colonial administrator and naturalist Hugh Low during his first ascent of Mount Kinabalu.

Low wrote the following account of his discovery:[4] A little way further we came upon a most extraordinary Nepenthes, of, I believe, a hitherto unknown form, the mouth being oval and large, the neck exceedingly contracted so as to appear funnel-shaped, and at right angles to the body of the pitcher, which was large, swollen out laterally, flattened above and sustained in an horizontal position by the strong prolongation of the midrib of the plant as in other species.

It is a very strong growing kind and absolutely covered with its interesting pitchers, each of which contains little less than a pint of water and all of them were full to the brim, so admirably were they sustained by the supporting petiole.

[...] We at last reached a narrow, rocky ridge, covered with brushwood, but with thousands of plants of the beautiful Nepenthes Lowii growing among them.

A very elegant claret jug might be made of this shape.In subsequent years, N. lowii was featured in a number of publications by eminent botanists, such as Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel (1870),[8] Joseph Dalton Hooker (1873),[9] Frederick William Burbidge (1882),[10] Odoardo Beccari (1886),[11] Ernst Wunschmann (1891),[12] Otto Stapf (1894),[13] Harry James Veitch (1897),[14] Jacob Gijsbert Boerlage (1900),[15] and Elmer Drew Merrill (1921).

The first major taxonomic treatment was that of Günther Beck von Mannagetta und Lerchenau in 1895, who placed N. lowii in its own subgroup (Retiferae) on account of its unusual pitcher morphology.

[21] The following year Danser provided a further emended Latin diagnosis[note b] and botanical description of N. lowii in his seminal monograph "The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies".

[23] Mjöberg wrote the following account of the Mount Murud summit area:[23][24] We found ourselves in a strange landscape where low bushes with thick leathery leaves constituted the predominating vegetation.

Here and there smaller trees were seen, among them a conifer with trunk and larger branches practically covered with the yellow blossoms of a small, richly flowering, epiphytic orchid.

The confusion resulted from the fact that the peristome in upper pitchers of N. lowii is usually present only as a series of ridges and that N. macfarlanei also has bristles on the underside of the lid (although they are much shorter than those of N.

[25] Having studied all the Bornean Nepenthes herbarium material held at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Smythies would later confirm that records of N. macfarlanei from the Kinabalu area were erroneous.

[5] The upper pitchers of N. lowii are very distinctive, being globose in the lower part, strongly constricted in the middle, and highly infundibular above.

[25] Nepenthes lowii used to have a scattered distribution around the Mount Kinabalu summit trail,[37][38][39] occurring in a narrow band between elevations of 1970 and 2270 m above sea level.

[4] Many of the N. lowii plants growing along the Kinabalu summit trail died as a result of the El Niño climatic phenomenon of 1997–1998 and others have been destroyed by climbers.

[44] On Mount Murud, N. lowii occurs at elevations above 1860 m. Plants growing near the mountain's summit are very stunted due to the harsher climatic conditions and lack of protecting vegetation.

[5] However, it differs from the assessment by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, which classified N. lowii as "rare", placing it between "vulnerable" and "endangered".

[49] Preliminary observations suggest that this particular species may have moved away from a solely (or even primarily) carnivorous nature and be adapted to "catching" the droppings of birds and tree shrews feeding at its nectaries.

The late Professor J. Harrison, of Singapore, discovered that a snail laid its eggs in the hairs under the lid and that the tupaias came to eat them.However, observations of cultivated N. lowii by Peter D'Amato and Cliff Dodd showed that these white beads were of the plant's own production.

[54][55][56] Another study published the following year showed that the shape and size of the pitcher orifice exactly match the dimensions of a typical tree shrew (Tupaia montana).

[58][59][60][61][62] In all three of these species (N. ephippiata has not been investigated), the colour of the lower lid surface corresponds to T. montana visual sensitivity maxima in the green and blue wavebands, making it stand out against adjacent parts of the pitcher.

This differed from the sub-genus classification published by Günther Beck von Mannagetta und Lerchenau in 1895, which placed N. lowii in its own subgroup: Retiferae.

[17] Danser explained his assignment of N. lowii to Regiae as follows:[22] Most aberrant is N. Lowii, the leaves and the stem of which are coarse, whereas the indumentum is almost absent and the pitchers show a peculiar form and have no peristome, the lid is vaulted, the midrib is keeled but has no appendage, the lower surface is covered with thick hairs, the glands of the inner surface of the pitcher are so large, that the interspaces are reduced to lines.

[68] The authors noted that both N. fusca and N. lowii are common on the summit area of Mount Alab where this plant is found, whereas N. chaniana is rare.

[5] Clarke later found larger plants of this hybrid in the Crocker Range of Sabah, particularly near the summit of Mount Alab.

In addition, this hybrid has a less ovate lid, which lacks the bristles characteristic of N. lowii, and a denser indumentum covering the stem and leaves.

The pitcher cup bears long dark streaks similar to those of N. stenophylla, while the striped peristome is flattened and cylindrical in cross section.

[42][74] Ascidia magna, curva, basi inflata, medio constricta, dein ampliata, infundibuliformia; ore maximo, latissimo, annulo O. Nepenthes Lowii, H. f.—Caule robusto tereti, foliis crasse coriaceis, longe crasse petiolatis lineari-oblongis, ascidiis magnis curvis basi ventricosis medio valde constrictis, ore maximo ampliato, annulo O, operculo oblongo intus dense longe setoso.

They are curved, 4–10 inches long, swollen at the base, then much constricted, and suddenly dilating to a broad, wide, open mouth, with glossy shelving inner walls, and a minute row of low tubercles round the circumference; they are of a bright pea green, mottled inside with purple.

Capsules, two-thirds of an inch long, one-sixth of an inch broad.Folia mediocria petiolata, lamina lanceolata v. oblonga, nervis longitudinalibus utrinque c. 3, vagina caulis c. 2/3 amplectente ; ascidia rosularum et inferiora ignota ; ascidia superiora magna, parte inferiore globosa, medio valde constricta, os versus infundibuliformia, costis 2 elevatis, ore expanso operculum versus acuto, peristomio 0, operculo oblongo facie inferiore setis crassis longis, prope basin carina crassa obtusa ; inflorescentia racemus longus pedicellis c. 25 mm longis omnibus 2-floris ; indumentum in partibus iuvenilibus parcum tomentosum v. hirsutum, denique subnullum.