1918'] The Amek-kax Pttcher-Plants 113 



shadj places, or in the fall to last through the winter, but what benefit 

 they may be to the y^lant is not obvious. The normal leaves are per- 

 fectly evergreen in the species in which they lie close to the ground, 

 and die down in the fall in the taller species; and there are various 

 intermediate conditions. 



The leaves of the southern species are called ''pitchers," '^bugles," 

 "fly-catchers," 'iilies," or "trumpet-flowers" by the natives, and the 

 fruits, or spent flowers, which they i)erhaps do not always recognize as 

 being a part of the same plant, are sometimes known as "ladies' 

 watches," or simply watches. The northern species is sometimes 

 called "side-saddle flower" or "huntsman's cup." 



The hybrids are of course all in the genus Sarracen ia (for the sin- 

 gle species in the other two genera have no near relatives to hybridize 

 with), and they grow wild only between the James and Mississippi 

 rivers, for elsewhere no two species grow in proximity. For a small 

 genus, whose representatives all grow in strictly natural habitats and 

 shun civilization, the number of hybrids is remarkably large. Arti- 

 ficial hybrids were produced in European greenhouses more than 

 forty years ago, before the existence of natural hybrids was definitely 

 known, and now there are more such hybrids than there are species, 

 not counting compound hybrids, of which there are several. Natural 

 hybrids were first recognized about twenty-five years ago, and we now 

 know at least five simple combinations and one probable compound. 



It has been my good fortune to see in their natural surroundings 

 all tiie Xorth American species of this family and nearly all the known 

 wild hybrids, and to take photographs of about half of them in the 

 field. In the next few pages are brought together some notes on the 

 history, habits, and distribution of these jilants, inchuling (|uit<» a 

 number of facts and photographs not i)reviously ])ul)]ished. The 

 distribution is given in some detail, for the benelit of ri',idi'r> ulio 

 may wish to seek the plants in their native haunts. 



The western pitclier-|)lant, Ihirliiu/lonia cnJifoniha . grows in 



mountain meadows in and near tlie Cascade Range, in .soutliwestern 



Oregon and northern California, between the 3!>tb and llth parallels 



of latitude, and from near sea-level to 8,<)(»0 feet above. It was dis- 



4 



