420 Nepenthacece. [Nepenthes. 



4 valves; seeds very numerous, minute, testa produced into a 



long tail at each end, embryo axile in fleshy endosperm. 



This Order contains only one genus confined to Tropics of Old 

 World. 



NEPENTHES,* L. 



For characters, see Order. — Sp. 30; 9 in FL B. Ind., but 

 none in Peninsular India. 



N. dlstillatoria, L. Sp. PL 955 (1753). Bandura-wel, S. 



Herm. Mus. 16. Burm. Thes. 42. Fl. Zeyl. n. 321. N'. hidica, Poir. 

 Enc. Meth. iv. 458. Moon Cat. 70. Thw. Enum. 290. Hk. f. in DC. 

 Prod. xvii. 93. C. P. 262. 



Fl. B. Ind. V. 68. Pluk. Phytog. t. 237, f. 3 (1696). Burm. Thes. t. 17. 

 Gaertn. Fruct. ii. t. 83, f. 6 (fruit). 



Stems stout, scarcely woody, climbing by prehensile 

 petioles, quite glabrous; 1. very large, chiefly consisting of 

 the greatly modified petiole, lower portion of petiole dilated, 

 leaf-like, about 6i in. by i^ in. wide, lanceolate, tapering to 

 wide semi-amplexicaul base, glabrous except for a few fulvous 

 hairs on margin, midrib very prominent beneath with 4 faint 

 parallel longitudinal veins on either side connected by arched 

 veinlets, middle portion of petiole about 4^ in., cylindrical, 

 slightly compressed, prehensile, pubescent with fulvous hair, 

 terminal portion (' pitcher ') 4^- in., pendulous, curved upward 

 so as to have the mouth horizontal, parallel-veined with trans- 

 verse veinlets, cylindrical, flattened on one side between 2 

 narrow longitudinal ciliate wings or ridges, mouth not con- 

 tracted, margin stiff, hard, incurved, sharply serrate, blade 

 ('lid' of pitcherj \^-2 in., nearly orbicular, attached at back 

 of mouth, at first horizontal closing the pitcher, afterwards 

 erect, puberulous outside (beneath), thickly sprinkled with 

 sunk red glands within (abovej, midrib obscure; fl. over ^ in., 

 on pubescent ped., panicle leaf-opposed (apparently terminal), 

 1 ft. or more long, narrow, lax, pubescent ; perianth-segm. 

 persistent, strongly pubescent outside, glabrous within ; ov. 

 silky-pubescent; capsule | in., oblong, blunt, pilose. 



Wet places, especially by the sides of water-courses in swampy places, 

 in the moist low country mostly below 1000 ft.; common. Fl. March, 

 September ; dull orange-yellow. 



Endemic. 



The well-known ' Pitcher-plant ' is abundant about Colombo, but 

 much less so than formerly. Though usually found near sea-level, it 



* Linn;uus adopted this name from Breyne, who bestowed it in 1689 

 (Prodr. PI. Rar. ii. 75), fancifully applying Homer's viiireveii^ to the liquid 

 found in these natural pitcliers. 



