SARRACENIA RUBRA. RED-FLOWERED TRUMrET LEAF. 39 



been produced In this form for the purpose of insect-catching, it 

 may be well to note that in Willdenow's " Species Plantarum" this 

 singular passage occurs: "Sic metamorphosis folii Nymphsea; in 

 folium Sarraceniae, ut ipsa aquam pluvialem excipiens et retinens 

 extra aquas crescat ; mira naturae providentia ; " which may be 

 translated : " Such is the metamorphis of the leaf of the Nymphasa 

 into that of the Sarracenia, in order that, by receiving and retain- 

 ing rain water, it may, by a wonderful provision of nature, grow 

 where there is no water." The sentence is very remarkable as 

 showing that the early fathers of modern botany had anticipated 

 the celebrated men of our time in conceiving the theory of evo- 

 lution. 



As to the idea that these pitchers are modified petioles, and 

 that the leaf blade is something else, it is highly probable that 

 all petioles are modified leaf blades, and that the distinction 

 between the two Is of practical value only as a help In descrip- 

 tion and classification. It Is likely that the primordial plan Is 

 that of a lobed leaf, such as we might find In the Liriodendron, 

 or " tulip tree," and that the lower lobes became united at their 

 edges, leaving the upper, now forming the lid, free — and that the 

 petioles of many plants may be formed In the same manner. 

 However, as regards the Sarracenia, the manner In which the 

 "wing" Is developed In S. psittacina, leaving the "pitcher" little 

 more than a mid-rib, Is very suggestive. But this Is much better 

 seen by a singular genus of this same order, Sarracenlaceae, found 

 in Guayana by Sir R. Schomberg, called Hclianiphora nutans, In 

 which the primordial leaf was evidently three-lobed, and from the 

 orifice Is so slit down on one side that we should as soon think 

 of dividing the spathe of an arum Into petiole and leaf-blade as 

 this. We can easily see from the Hclianiphora. that we may more 

 correctly say the pitcher of the Sarracenia is a folded leaf than 

 an Inflated petiole. 



Among the interesting facts brought out within recent years 

 Is that of the different species of Sarracenia Intercrossing freely 

 together. Mr. David Moore, of the Glasnevin Botanic Gardens 



