Stems ascending but not climbing. Internodes up to 5 cm in length. Young plants form rosettes. Leaves ovate to orbicular up to 20 cm in lenth. The insertion of the tendril which carries the pitcher has a highly peltate insertion. Sometimes the tendril grows from near the middle of the leaf. Pitchers up to 30 cm in length. They are globose in the lower part and slightly infundibulate in the upper part.

Interestingly Nepenthes clipeata, only known from Mt. Kelam in Western Kalimantan (Indonesia) grows in cracks and accumulations of soil in the almost vertical rockface of Mt. Kelam. Unfortunately N. clipeata is highly endangered and its chances to survive in the wild seem to be small.

Easy grower under lowland to intermediate-altitude growing conditions. Interestlingly this plant prefers dryer soil than most other species of Nepenthes. Unfortunately the true species tends to grow much slowe than the many hybrids around.