102 SARRACENIACEAE 



Phuit (Scientific Press 21:222, — 1870). Ijeiiimon, J. G., Darlingtonia californica (Pac. R. Press 

 2 -249^ — 1871). Caiiby, W. M., Darlin{,'tonia californica, an insectivorous plant (Proc. Am. Assoc. 

 Adv. Sci. 23: P64,— 1875); DarlinKtonia californica, cine Insektenfresscrin (Ostcr. Bot. 

 Zeitac.hr. 25:287-293, — 1875). Edwards, Henry, Darlingtonia californica (Proc. Cal. Acad. 6: 

 1G1-1C6, — 1875). Hooper, E. J., Possibly a new species of Darlingtonia californica (Cal. Horti- 

 culturist 9:13, — 1879). Howell, Thos., Distribution of Darlingtonia in Oregon (Erythea 3:179, — 

 1895). Robinson, W., Tlie California Pitcher Plant (Flora and Sylva 3:230,-1905). 



1. D. californica Torr. California Pitcher Plant. Calf's Head. (Fig. 

 144.) Plants preenish-yellow, % to I14 (or 3) feet high; leaves enlarged upward 

 into a rounded hood, one side of the hood with a cireular orifice covered above by a 

 2-forked appendage; sepals yellowish-green with irregular purplish lineations, 

 1% to 2 inches long; petals dark purple, heavily veined, narrow-ovate, 1^^ to I14 

 inches long; stamens 3 lines long; ovary cuneate-obovoid; capsule obovatish-oblong, 

 1 to l^./s inches long. 



Marshy meadows and along streams, 3000 to 6000 feet : Nevada and Plumas 

 Cos.; Siskiyou, Trinity and Del Norte Cos. North along the Oregon Coast Range 

 (sometimes near sea-level) as far as Coquile Pt. Apr.- June. 



Biol. note. — Darlingtonia californica is gregarious and inhabits boggy spots in wet meadows 

 or along streams. It has its greatest development in the Coast Mts. of Curry and Josephine 

 counties, Oregon, where the plants grow very rankly along streams. E. W. Hilgard once told 

 us that the domed pitchers used to strike him in the face as he walked through the thickets of 

 these plants on the Illinois River in 1888, although in our own northern journeys we have never 

 seen them so tall. The sepals spread rotately but the petals converge to the tips by their edges 

 so as to form a tubular cro^^'n to the essential organs. A little above the middle of the petal there 

 is a constriction of it in such a way that contiguous petals form a circular "hole" or entrance, 

 there being thus five such in a circle. 



The appendages of the hood are somewhat twisted. A fly alights upon the tip of an append- 

 age ; in traveling along it he is thus brought by the under surface of the appendage to the orifice, 

 and encouraged, it is thought, to enter the hood on account of the illuminated "windows" or 

 somewhat transparent areas in the tissue opposite the opening. The bottom of the pitcher usu- 

 ally carries a liquid and, since the hairs on its side point downward, the egress of an insect is 

 rendered more difficult. 



The first field observations and experiments were made upon this plant by Rebecca M. Austin 

 during the years 1873 to 1878 while residing in Butterfly Valley in Plumas Co. She discovered 

 and mapped the distribution of the nectar exudation upon the pitchers ; detected the fluid in the 

 bottom of the closed pitchers and hence identified it as a secretion of the plant; noticed that this 

 fluid increased on the capture of insect prey, and that the increase was even greater when raw 

 meat Avas introduced into the pitchers. She determined to her own satisfaction that the pitcher 

 fluid has no digestive power, but that decomposition rather than digestion takes place. Two 

 other interesting facts were worked out by this observer, namely that the entrance of rain water 

 is precluded by the pitcher structure, and that the ago of an individual plant corresponds to the 

 number of old leaf bases attached to the rootstock (cf. F. M. Jones, Dee. 9, 1932, in Austin 

 Corr. ma.). 



Flies in greater or less number are usually found in the bottom of the pitcher and their decay 

 renders the mass fetid. As long ago as 1875, the entomologist, Henry Edwards, identified as many 

 as 43 species of insects (representing every natural order of Insecta) that had been trapped by 

 the pitchers. Aside from insect victims, there are two insect species regarded as associates of 

 Darlingtonia, namely Metriocnemus edwardsii Jones and Botanobia darlingtoniae Jones (Ento- 

 mological News 27:385). 



Under conditions that simulate its natural habitat, Darlingtonia has been successfully culti- 

 vated. There is required a cold half -shady situation, constant moisture, and a compost made of 

 peat, sphagnum, coarse sand and gravel with shale or broken rock to insure perfect drainage. 



Locs. — Moore's Flat, Nevada Co. (Scientific Press 21:222) ; Lake City, Nevada Co. (Pflzr. 

 4"°:26); Black Hawk Creek, Quincy (Pac. Rur. Press 2:249); Cold Sprs., Butterfly Valley, 

 B. M. Austin; Mt. Shasta (n. side), K. E. Brown 389; Castle Crags, Arthur Green; Cantara, 

 Horseshoe Bend, upper Sacramento River, Jepson 13,448; Castle Lake, Trinity Mts., M. S. Baker; 

 Mt. Eddy, Copeland 3812; Bear Creek, Trinity Co., Alexander 4- Kellogg 314; Salmon Mts., 

 many meadows on the south slope ; Willis Hole, Kelscy trail, Siskiyou Mts., Jepson 2868 ; betw. 

 Big Flat and Bald Mt., Del Norte Co., Jepson; Adams sta., headwaters of Shelley Creek, Del 

 Norte Co., Jepson. Oregon: West Fork Illinois River, Jepson; Waldo, Howell; Kerbyville, 

 Howell. 



Refs.— Darlingtonia californica Torr. Smithson. Contrib. 6:5, t. 12 (1853), type loc. 

 upper Sacramento River, J. D. Braclcenridge 4- G. W. Hulse; Jepson, Man. 448, fig. 440 (1925). 



