Chapter II — 27 — Sarracenia 



that of coarse straw-colored hairs extending to the bottom of the tube 

 where a watery fluid is secreted. Essentially correct, this description 

 does not specify closely enough the distinction which actually exists. 

 Though the zonation does not stand out so clearly as in S. purpurea, 

 we can nevertheless recognize four zones. 



Zone I, that of the under surface of the lid which ends in an obhque 

 line extending obliquely upwards from the lower margin of the mouth. 

 This is covered rather densely with curved hairs downwardly directed. 

 Interspersed are numerous nectar glands which are evidently active, 

 for one can see minute drops of nectar studding the surface. At the 

 line of demarkation the epidermis abruptly changes to a smooth, con- 

 tinuous surface of tessellated cells, each of which is downwardly sharply 

 umbonate (j — lo). Interspersed are very numerous glands which 

 are very active. In the upper part stand large drops which run to- 

 gether to form a flood of nectar. This is continuous along the lower 

 lip of the mouth and for a centimeter down from there and elsewhere 

 around the tube. This I call zone 2. At its lower limit the umbonate 

 cells give way gradually to cells of identical structure, but having 

 the umbo lengthened into a longer slender spike, still with many 

 glands scattered between. This zone measures about 3 to 4 cm. in 

 depth. It is evidently glaucous, with a white sheen. This is zone 3. 

 Below begins zone 4, recognizable to the eye by the pale green, non- 

 glaucous appearance. It soon becomes brownish in color and bears 

 numerous scattered long slender hairs with a detentive function (j — 

 11), with more or less straight walled cells between. In the upper 

 part of this zone there are a few glands, but none much below a 

 depth of I cm. Below the epidermis in zones 2, 3 and 4, the pitcher 

 wall is conspicuously strengthened by a hypodermis of wavy walled 

 cells with walls rather thin above, but in the general region of zone 4 

 very thick and underlain by a second course of wavy walled cells with 

 thinner walls. It is obvious that these cells add materially to the 

 rigidity of the tubular wall. The epidermal walls themselves are 

 straight or only very slightly wavy. The edges of the lid are con- 

 tinuous with the true edge of the lower reach of the mouth border. 

 The nectar roll, as in 5. purpurea, is covered with tightly imbricated 

 umbonate cells with numerous nectar glands (j — 10, 12). On the 

 whole, the pitcher hning is similar to that of the juvenile pitchers 

 of that species, in which, however, zone 3 is much shallower than in 

 S. minor. In general form this species resembles S. purpurea with its 

 bell turned forward so as to shade the opening, but as far as the 

 epidermal lining is concerned is more like either the juvenile leaves 

 of S. purpurea, or the mature leaves of 5. psittacina. In the course 

 of evolution it is possible that S. purpurea has been derived from a 

 plant resembling S. minor simply by a change in the posture of the 

 leaves from vertical to spreading, and by an extension of one zone 

 at the expense of another. A change from 5". minor to S. psittacina 

 could have been accomplished by an additional elaboration of the 

 region surrounding the mouth by extending the dimensions of the 

 nectar roll, and reversing it, curling it to the inside instead of to 

 the outside. This is speculating, of course. 



Sarracenia Drummondii. — This is a tall species, the trumpet- 



