NAT. ORDER. — S.\URACENIE.E. lT-5 



are attached to the centre of each valve, and separate from the cen- 

 tral axis of the column ; scapes, always one-flowered ; Jlowers, large, 

 nodding, greenish-yellow or dark purple. These well known singular 

 plants, are inhabitants of the swamps of North America, remarkable 

 for the singular form of their leaves, which are tubular and hold wha- 

 ler, and some species have lids or covers, which it is alleged shrink 

 and close over the mouth, so as to prevent the exhalation of the water. 

 In dry weather birds resort to thern for drink. Tliis order differs chiefly 

 from Papancracco!, and JVi/niphinccre, in having a broad, peltate, leafy 

 stigma, but it is still nearer to the former than the latter, in the cap- 

 sules being furnished with intervalvular placentas. 



Sarraceniajlava. Yellow side-saddle flower. In this species the 

 leaves rise nearly three feet high, small at the bottom, but widening 

 gradually near the top ; they are hollow, and arched over the mouth 

 like a fi-iar's cowl ; the flowers grow on naked pedicels, rising from 

 the root to the height of three feet, and are of a green color. It is a 

 native of North Amei'ica, in open swamps, from Virginia to Florida. 

 This is the tallest growing species ; the leaves are often three feet 

 long. Flowers in June and July. 



Sairaccnia piapurca. Purple side-saddle flower. This species 

 has a strong fibrous root, which strikes deep into the soft earth, from 

 which arise five, six, or seven leaves, in proportion to the strength of 

 the plant ; these are about five or six inches long, hollow like a pitcher, 

 naiTOW at their base, but swell out large at the top ; their outer sides 

 are rounded, but on their inner side they are a litde compressed, and 

 have a broad leafy border iimning longitudinally the whole length of 

 the tube ; and to the rounded part of the leaf there is on the top a 

 large appendage or ear, standing erect, of a brownish color ; this sur- 

 rounds the outside of the leaves ; it is eared at both ends, and waved 

 round the border ; from the centre of the root, between the leaves, 

 arises a strong, round, naked foot-stalk, about a foot high, sustaining 

 one nodding flower at the top ; the leaflets of the upper calyx are ob- 

 tuse, and bent over the corolla, so as to cover the inside of it; they 



