ON THE 
DARLINGTONIA CALIFORNIGA, 
A NEW PITCHER-PLANT, 
FROM NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. 
BY JOHN TORREY, F.LS._ 
Tuis new Pitcher-plant was first detected by Mr. J. D. Brackenridge, Assistant- 
Botanist to the United States’ Exploring Expedition, under Captain Wilkes, 
while passing overland from Oregon to San Francisco, in the year 1842. He 
found it in a marsh, bordering a small tributary of the Upper Sacramento, a 
few miles south of Shasta Peak. Owing to the lateness of the season (it was 
October), the flowers had passed; and not even a seed vessel was found, but only 
the leaves and tall scapes, with the remains of a single capsule. The leaves, 
however, were so peculiar, that no doubt was entertained of the plant being either 
a Sarracenia, or a near ally of that genus. Without the flowers, nothing further 
could be determined respecting it ; but from the bracteate scape and deeply parted 
lamina or appendage of the leaves, it seemed more probable that it was distinct 
from Sarracenia. Long had I been hoping to receive the plant in a more com- 
plete state, when it was at last brought to me by my friend, Dr. G. W. Hulse, of 
New Orleans, who found it in flower in May, 1851, in the same region, and 
perhaps in the very spot where it was discovered many years before by Mr. 
Brackenridge. The plant proves to be generically distinct from Sarracenia, as 
well as from the genus Heliamphora of Bentham; and I take great pleasure in 
dedicating it to my highly esteemed friend Dr. William Darlington, of West 
Chester, in Pennsylvania, whose valuable botanical works have contributed so 
largely to the scientific reputation of our country. The genus dedicated to this 
veteran botanist by De Candolle has been reduced to a section of Desmanthus by 
