SARRACENIA. 



347 



912. Sarraccnla. All of the eight species of this genus have 

 hollowed phyllodia, which form slender pitchers or urns. In the 

 best-known species, S. purpurea, 1 the 

 urn is generally so held that rain can 

 fall directly into it ; in fact, the upright 

 foliar expansion would seem to insure 

 that none be lost. In S. flava, Druin- 

 mondii, and rubra, the pitchers are 

 more nearly vertical, and the lid at the 

 mouth of the tube so disposed when 

 the leaf is young as to 

 shed for the most part 

 rain that falls thereon ; 

 but in the older leaves 

 the lid becomes some- 

 what erect. Even in 

 the latter position a por- 

 tion of the rain that falls 

 upon the leaves is car- 

 ried off. In the re- 

 maining species, S. variolaris and psittacina, the 

 lid is a roof which keeps 

 the rain from entering the 

 tube. In all the cases there 

 is usually considerable water 

 in the pitchers ; in the last 

 two species it probabty all 

 comes from within as a se- 

 cretion. 



913. Sarracenia variolaris 

 has been long known to at- 

 tract insects to the leaves. 

 Passing over the earlier no- 

 tices referred to in the Bib- 

 liography, page 351, the 

 following quotation from 

 MacBride, 2 written in 1815, will indicate sufficiently the char- 

 acter of the attraction : 



1 Schimper: Botauische Zeitung, 1882, p. 225. 



2 Transactions of the Linnrean Society, xii., 1818, p. 48. 



FIG. 158. Pitcher-leaves of Sarracenia purpurea ; one has the upper part cut away. 

 FIG. 159. Pitcher of Sarracenia variolaris. 

 FIG. 160. Pitcher of Sarracenia psittacina. 



