162 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 
United States Surveying Expedition under Captain Wilkes, in 1842, who 
detected it growing in a marsh bordering a small tributary of the Upper 
Sacramento River, afew miles above Shasta Peak. Dr. Torrey, in his de- 
scription, which will be found in the ‘‘Smithsonian Contribution to Knowl- 
edge, Vol. VI, 1853,’’ says: 
‘“Owing to the lateness of the season (it was October), the flowers had 
passed, and not even a single seed-vessel was found, but only the leaves and 
tall scapes, with the remains of a single capsule. The leaves, however, were 
so peculiar that no doubt was entertained of the plant being either a Sarra- 
cenia, or a near ally of that genus. Without the flowers, nothing further 
could be determined respecting it; but, from the bracteate scape and deeply 
parted lamina of the leaves, it seemed more than probable that it was distinct 
from Sarracenia. Long had I been hoping to receive the plant in a more 
complete state, when it was at last brought to me by my friend, D. G. W. 
Hulse, of New Orleans, who found it in flower in May, 1851, in the same 
region, and perhaps in the very spot in which it was discovered many years 
before by Mr. Brackenridge. The plant proves to be generically distinct 
from Sarracenia, as well as from the genus Heliamphora of Bentham; and I 
take great pleasure in dedicating it to my highly esteemed friend, Dr. Wm. 
Darlington, of West Chester, Pennsylvania, whose botanical works have con- 
tributed sv largely to the scientific reputation of our country. The genus 
dedicated to the veteran botanist by De Candolle has been reduced to a sec- 
tion of Desmanthus by Bentham; and a California plant, from an imperfect 
specimen of which I had recently indicated a genus under that name, proves 
to be only a variety of Styraw.”’ 
It may be well to add to this interesting note of Dr. Torrey, that Darling- 
tonia differs generically from Sarracenia by the forked blade of the leaf, and 
by the shape of the stigma. The flower of the former is stated to be, ‘‘ when 
fully expanded, about two inches in diameter; the calyx consists of five straw- 
colored acute sepals; the petals, of a like number, and pale in color, are 
narrowed and concave at the apex and broad below; the twelve to fifteen 
stamens are nearly hidden by the projecting ovary, which is top-shaped, 
slightly five-angled, and crowned by a short style, with a five-lobed stigma. 
The fruit is a five-celled capsule, with numerous seeds.’’ I may here remark 
that, though the flower is said by Dr. Torrey to be nodding at the apex of 
the stalk, I did not find it so. In August last, when I first met with the plant 
in the neighborhood of Mount Shasta, the flowers had become perfectly erect, 
and most of the capsules had burst and discharged their seed. It struck me 
that this may be owing to a careful provision of nature, which aitorded the 
plant, as it became erect in ripening, an opportunity of spreading its seeds 
to a greater distance than it could do if the flower continued in a drooping 
position. The seeds themselves are armed at their extremity with small 
bristles, which cause them to adhere to the Sphagnum and other bog plants 
of their habitat, and thus secure them against being washed away by any 
excess of water in the bogs in which the plant has its home. Interesting as 
the fiower of Darlingtonia is, however, it yields in general attractiveness to 
the leaves, which are not only peculiar in form and structure, but perform 
one of those curious functions in pature, the object of which we can by no 
