Francis E. Lloyd ^10 — Carnivorous Plants 



may attain a length of 30 cm.; in cultivation, they are rarely longer 

 than 15 cm. On side shoots of the rhizome arise depauperate branches 

 bearing leaves in various stages of arrested development (2 — 2-4), 

 which have been duly described by the above authors. 



Structure of the leaf. — The normal pitcher leaf is an insect trap of 

 the pitfall type. Its form is that of a gracefully curved funnel, widen- 

 ing above the base to contract somewhat just below a leafy expansion, 

 the bell (2 — i; Text fig. i). The apex of the bell normally ends in a 

 spoon-shaped, thick- walled structure resembling superficially the lid of 

 Nepenthes, which stands upright as represented by Bentham, and not 

 bent forward as Goebel suggested as a protection of the nectar se- 

 creted against rain. The spoon is lacking in some of the leaves on 

 plants which I have seen growing in greenhouses, where many of the 

 leaves are small and lacking in vigor, but seems to be normally present 

 and upright in position in wild plants, judging from a photograph 

 made by Tate (Lloyd 1933). 



Mrs. Arber (1941) regards the spoon ("hood" she calls it) as the 

 continuation of the rudimentary curve-over of the pitcher-lip. The 

 indications of this curve-over are stated to be "very slight". My ma- 

 terial, derived from the same source as hers, shows no such indication. 

 To be sure, the sides of the spoon are the incurled margins of the leaf 

 apex, but these have no relation, it seems to me, to anything corre- 

 sponding to a putative "outward roll-over". 



The flaring bell is oval in form, the margins sweeping forward to 

 meet at once or to run parallel for a short distance before joining. At 

 this point they continue into two narrow wings running down the mid- 

 ventral surface of the pitcher, toward the base of which they enlarge 

 and spread to form a wide membranous spreading and clasping base. 

 Above the wings are closely approximated, and in this respect Heliam- 

 phora, according to Macfarlane, occupies an intermediate position be- 

 tween Nepenthes, with widely removed wings and Sarracenia and 

 Darlingtonia with a single keel (representing fused wings). The outer 

 surface of the pitcher bears numerous twin unicellular trichomes which 

 have inverted V-shaped spreading arms quite unique and peculiar to 

 this plant (2 — 6 and Text fig. i), stomata, and many minute glands 

 which probably secrete nectar (2 — 10). These are numerous on the 

 wings, and are probably part of a general lure for insects. The inner 

 surface can be divided for the purpose of description into four zones. 

 Zone I (2 — i) is the spoon, which is quite smooth on its concave sur- 

 face, but here bears a number of glands which are larger than else- 

 where, and some of them very large, usually three or four on each 

 flank. These are nectar glands. Zone 2 begins just below the spoon 

 and is indicated by a dense clothing of downward pointing, delicate 

 hairs in great numbers covering the whole of the surface of the bell 

 (which occasionally is smooth), and the upper constricted portion of 

 the tubular part of the pitcher. They are found in reduced numbers 

 for a short space just below the constriction, and here they are very 

 long and straight. Below a certain point, however, the hairiness sud- 

 denly ceases, and gives way to the next zone (3) in which the epidermis 

 is glistening smooth. While in zone 2 there are very numerous nectar 

 glands, interspersed between the bases of the hairs, here in zone 3 there 



