Francis E. Lloyd — 56 ^ — Carnivorous Plants 



according to Macfarlane, ''porcellaneous white" pitchers marked 

 with "deep crimson splotches" {N. Raffiesiana var. nivea, N. Bur- 

 bidgei). Others have uniform deep red color, even when growing in 

 the shade, or covered with a growth of moss, while the pitchers ex- 

 posed to greater illumination are less deeply colored, (N. Rajah, N. 

 Edwardsiana) . These relations, in perhaps less striking fashion, 

 are shown by N. ampullaria in which the soil pitchers are splotched 

 with red while the cauline pitchers are almost or entirely free of color. 

 Some species have pale green pitchers with no markings at all (N. 

 ventricosa) {4 — 7). On account of the frequently brilliant coloring, be- 

 lieved by Troll to be, in addition to the nectar, attractive to insects, 

 the pitchers are regarded by Malayans as "bungabunga" (flowers) 

 (Troll 1939). The glossy rim may be entirely red or trans- 

 versely striped with red, or devoid of color other than green. The 

 outer surface of the pitcher is usually clothed with a rough pubescence 

 of many branched hairs, each rising from a unicellular stalk with thin 

 walls, those of the rest of the cells forming the branching complex 

 being very thick {S — 4). There are also low sessile stellate hairs 

 which in some species {N . intermedia) stand in a pit {8 — 1-3)- 

 The four arms forming the star are each two-celled, but the whole 

 may be composed of eight to sixteen cells. They are regarded as 

 hydathodes by Stern (191 6). These trichomes are by no means con- 

 fined to the pitchers, however, the whole plant showing a marked de- 

 gree of the rough hairiness, especially along the tendrils and the backs 

 of the "phyllode." 



Borne on a tendril, often hanging, the pitcher in order to function 

 must stand upright. This is accomphshed by tropisms resident in 

 the region between the pitcher base and the end of the tendril. Since 

 the tendril is positively geotropic, and the pitcher " geotropically con- 

 ditioned," though not simply negatively geotropic (Stern), the usual 

 position is a sharply upturned pitcher on the end of the vertically 

 hanging tendril. 



In one species at least {N . hicalcarata) the portion of the tendril 

 near the pitcher is swollen and hollow to form a formicary, but the 

 space is separated from that of the pitcher by a partition and it re- 

 mains filled with air. Ants usually eat away an entrance into the in- 

 terior, as they do e.g. into the stems of Cecropia and the thorns of 

 Acacia sp. etc., and use the hollow as a nest. 



The mouth of the pitcher is always more or less oblique, and dur- 

 ing development is hermetically sealed by the lid, which opens only 

 when the definitive size and shape of the pitcher is almost attained. 

 It is well known that, until this happens, the contained fluid, of which 

 there is a considerable amount, is kept in a bacteria-sterile condition. 

 The method by which the edge of the lid is kept hermetically sealed 

 during development is both interesting and unique. There is, it must 

 be observed, no concrescence or fusion of tissues (7 — 24; 8 — 19). 

 What happens is that the edge of the hd is in the first place tightly 

 applied. Then, whatever chink there may be left is tightly sealed by 

 a dense growth of branching hairs which clothe the outer face of the 

 pitcher mouth and the edge of the Hd (Macfarlane 1908). These 

 interweave so as to produce a firm wad of cottony stuff. As long as 



