SARRACENIA 



SARRACENIA 



1615 



Flower. Three small genera and 8 or 10 species com- 

 prise the family Sarraceniacece. All the plants are 

 American. The six or eight species of Sarracenia in- 

 habit swamps and low grounds in the Atlantic states; 

 Darlingtonia Californica, grows in mountain bogs in 

 California and southern Oregon; Heliamphora nutans 

 grows on Mt. Roraima in British Guiana. They are all 

 perennial acaulescent bog plants, with hollow pitcher- 

 like leaves, and nodding flowers single or several on 

 short scapes. The pitchers catch organic matter and 

 entrap insects, and the plants often utilize these ma- 

 terials for food. In some species there are contrivances 

 of form, hairs, and lines of color that appear to have 

 special relation to the capture of insects and other 

 creeping things. See DarJingtonia. The plants are 

 prized as horticultural subjects because of their oddity 

 and the botanical interest that attaches to them. The 

 Sarracenias have been much hybridized, giving rise to 

 distinct and interesting intermediate forms, but these 

 hybrids are known only to specialists and fanciers. 

 Heliamphora is not in the American trade, but all the 

 other species are. They are considered to be difiicult to 

 maintain in perfect condition under ciiltivation, and, 

 whenever possible, plants are frequently renewed from 

 the wild. They are best treated as semi-aquatic plants. 

 Give plenty of moisture at growing season. Keep par- 

 tially dormant in winter. 



The botanical position of the Sarraceniacese is not 

 settled. Ordinarily it is placed near the Papaveraceae and 

 CruciferBB. Others associate it more intimately with the 

 Droseraceae. The fls. are perfect, the parts mostly free 

 and distinct; sepals and petals each 5; stamens many; 

 carpels 3-5, united into a compound pistil, bearing 

 many ovules on axile placentae. In Sarracenia itself, 

 the flower is large and solitary, nodding from the top of 

 a rather stiff scape; petals colored, ovate to more or 

 less fiddle-shaped, incurved ; sepals thick and persis- 

 tent; 3 bracts beneath the calyx; the top of the pistil 

 dilated into a broad, thin, umbrella-like structure on the 

 margin of which the stigmatic surfaces are borne; fr. 

 a 5-valved capsule. See Gray, Syn. Fl. 1, p. 79. Masters, 

 G.C. II. 15:817; 16:11, 40. For an account of hybrid 

 Sarracenias, see also Gn. 28, p. 217, and 48, p. 202. 



L. H. B. 



All of the species comprising those which are indig- 

 enous to the southern states only, including S. flava, 

 S. psittacina, S. rtibra, S. variolaris, and S. Drum- 

 mondii, are hardy in the botanic garden at Washington. 

 However, they do not grow equally well out of doors. 

 S. flava, S. rubra, and /S. variolaris succeed best. S. 

 psittacina and S, Drummondil do poorly. They are 

 planted in a raised bed, the sides of which are made of 

 rocks cemented together so as to be capable of being 

 flooded with water. Provision is made for drainage by 

 means of a pipe in the bottom, which is opened or closed 

 as occasion requires. The compost is made up of 

 chopped fern roots, moss, sand, charcoal and potsherds, 

 and when planted a top-dressing of live moss is given. 

 In this bed other insectivorous plants are grown, asDio- 

 naea, Darlingtonia, Drosera and Pinguicula. S. flava 

 and S. purpurea are sometimes well grown on margins 

 of lily ponds, if given compost of the above description. 



For pot culture in northern greenhouses S. Drum- 

 mondii is the most attractive species. It produces two 

 crops of leaves each year. Those developed in spring, 

 while more numerous, are not so beautifully marked as 

 those which make their appearance during the fall 

 months. S. flava comes next in importance as a pot- 

 plant. Out of a large number of hybrids, those having 

 as parents S. rubra, S. purpurea and S. variolaris 

 take on high coloring in the leaves. 



Propagation should be effected by division of the rhi- 

 zome at the time of repotting; this should be done be- 

 fore growth begins. New forms are raised from seed. 

 All of the species intercross readily. 



Sarracenias thrive best in a substance through which 

 water will pass readily. During the growing period 

 they need an abundant supply of moisture. They are 

 best grown in a sunny coolhouse. Greenfly and thrips 

 are the most troublesome pests. Greenfly is most 

 abundant during the earlier stages of the leaves, the 

 thrips appearing later. Cr. w. Oliver. 



acuminata, 6. 

 alba, 5. 



Atkinsouiana, 7. 

 atrosanguinea, 4. 

 Catesbaii, 4. 

 Ohelsoni, 8. 

 Courtii, 9. 

 crispata, 4. 

 Drummondii, 5. 

 erythropus, 4. 

 Fildesi. 4. 



INDEX. 



flava, 4. 

 limbata, 4. 

 Maddisoniana, 10. 

 Mandaiana, 11. 

 maxima, 4. 

 melanorhoda, 12. 

 Mexicana, 5. 

 minima, 4. 

 minor, 6. 

 Mitchelliana, 13. 

 ornata, 4. 



I. Specific Types. 



picta, 4. 

 purpurea, 2. 

 psittacina, 1. 

 rubra, 5, 6. 

 Rugelii, 4. 

 Swaniana. 14. 

 Sweetii, 6. 

 undulata, 5. 

 variolaris, 3. 

 Williamsii, 15. 

 Wrigleyana, 16. 



A. Pitchers spreading horizontally or obliquely. 

 B. Hood concave and covering tJie orifice. 



1. psittacina, Michx. Pitchers small (not exceeding 6 

 in. long), cylindrical, reclined, broad-winged, green be- 

 low but purple-veined about the middle and purple with 

 white spots on the top and hood, 



densely and retrorsely hairy within : 

 petals purplish, K in. long. Pine 

 barren swamps, Georgia, Alabama, 

 Florida. G. C. II, 15: 816. F. S. 

 20:2063. F. 1877, p. 254. 



BB. Hood flattish, erect or soon 

 becoming so. 



2. purpurea, Linn. Common 

 Pitcher Plant of the North, and 

 the one on which the genus was 

 founded. Side-Saddle Flower. 

 Pig. 2253. Pitchers ascending, rela- 

 tively short and thick, 8-12 in. 

 long, enlarging upwards, more or 

 less purple-veined, broad-winged, 

 the large, round-cordate hood hairy 

 and purple-veined within: scapes 

 1-2 ft. tall, bearing a flower 2 in. 

 across, with lurid purple petals. 

 Sphagnum bogs, Labrador to 

 Florida, and west in Canada to the 

 Rocky Mts. B.M. 849. L.B.C. 

 4:308. G.C. 11.15:821. F.S. 10:1076. 

 Mn. 1:81. G.W.F. 50. -Variable. In 

 some forms the fls. are yellowish 

 and the Ivs. are not purple-veined. 

 According to Loddiges, writing 

 in 1823, this species was "culti- 

 vated before the year 1640, by 

 Tradescant, who was gardener to 

 King Charles the First." 



AA. Pitchers erect, long and 



slender. 



B. Hood concave, standing over 



the orifice. 



3. variolaris, Michx. Fig. 2254. 

 Pitchers narrow, sometimes IM ft. 

 long, either broadly or narrowly 

 winged, more or less variegated and 2253. 

 veined with purple (the under color Sarracenia purpurea, 

 yellowish white), the cucuUate hood ()< i^ ) 

 covering the orifice and purple- 

 veined within : petals 1 in. or more long, yellow or yel- 

 lowish green. Low grounds, N. Car. to Fla. B.M. 1710. 

 L.B.C. 9:803. Mn.4:l. Gn. 48, p. 203. 



BB. Hood expanded, erect or soon becoming so. 

 c. Base of hood much contracted or recurved at the sides. 



4. fliva, Linn. Tall, the narrow, trumpet-like pitchers 

 2 ft. long, which are yellowish green and not spotted, 

 the wing very narrow, the hood ovate and soon becom- 

 ing erect and hairy and purple-spotted within : petals 

 13^ in. long, but enlarging to nearly or quite twice that 

 length, oblong and drooping, light yellow. Bogs and 

 swamps,N. Car.(Va.?)toFla. B.M. 780. L.B.C. 20:1957. 

 R.H. 1852:121. F.S. 10:1068-9. Gn. 30, p. 367; 48:1031; 

 57, p. 326. Mn. 2:113. — This seems to be the most vari- 

 able of the Sarracenias, and some of the forms referred 

 to it may be distinct species. Var. atrosanguinea, Bull. 

 (S. atrosanguinea, Hort.). Small: lid or hood ovate- 

 acute, deeply stained with red. G.C. II. 16:13. I.H. 27, 



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