DARLINGTONIA 



pitcher plants. There is only one species in this genus. 

 The plant was first collected near Mt. Shasta Ijy the 

 Wilkes Exploring Expedition. Indians attacked the 

 party, and as the explorers retreated to their camp W. D. 

 Brackenridge grabhed something, which turned out to 

 be fragments of this exciting plant. The Darlingtonia 

 grows at an altitude of 5,000 feet on the Sierra Nevadas 

 of California, in sphagnum bogs along with sundews 

 and rushes. The pitchers grow in clusters, and are a 

 foot or two high. The pitcher is slender, erect, .spirally 

 twisted and rounded at the top, something like a fiddle 

 head. From this hangs a curious reddish structure 

 ■with two long flaps. Underneath the rounded top is 

 seen the entrance to the trap, which means death to all 

 sorts of insects, big and little. How the plaut attracts 

 them is not obvious, but the tati' of tin insrcts is clear. 

 They climb down a long, nari..H tui.n. I, Mii.l.-d by nee- 

 dle-like downward-pointing hui- .\iii\..l at the bot- 

 tom, the insects find these m t dh ^ iiiimi inus and con- 

 verging. As they attempt to i-scupe tlii'\ are confronted 

 by an impassable array of lances. The manner of their 

 death can be easily imagined. They sink into the bot- 

 tom in a putrid, sticky mas.s. and the products of de- 

 composition are presumably absorbed by the plant. 



Darlingtonias have been grown outdoors in the east 

 the year round in a few special localities. Edward Gil- 

 lett, at Southwick, Mass., grows them in a favored spot 

 without artificial protection. F. H. H<)rsford can pre- 

 serve them at Charlotte, Vt., with tho anl ot a wiuU v 

 mulch. 



Califomica, Torr. Fig. 678. Rootstoc k h..ii/oni il h - 

 forming pitchers as described aboxi- hIu'Ii an- curi- 

 ously veined, and have a wnii,' on tin \« ntral surface 

 and a crest on top, green, fliialh 1 niiii^' a pear yel- 

 low: scape erect, %-\}/^ft. hi^h. < ioih. d with obtuse, 

 erect, concave, half-clasping l.iict-.tis -ohtary, nod- 

 ding, 3 in. across; sepals 5, pale green; petals shorter 

 than the .sepals, about 1 in. long, converging, greenish 

 yellow, with broad reddish brown veins, contracted 

 above the middle; stigmas 5; ovary cylindrical below, 

 dilated into a broad 5-lobed top with a deep depressiofi 

 in the center, 5-celled : seeds obovate-club-shaped. B.M. 

 5920. I.H. 18:75. F.S. 14:1440. G.C. III. 7:84, 85; 

 17:304; 24:339.-Int. to cult, about 1861. -w. M. 



As greenhouse plants, Darlingtonias require the same 

 treatment as their allies, Sarracenias, Dioneas and Uro- 

 seras. A well grown collection of these plants is not 

 only very iuteresting and curious, but also very beauti- 

 ful. To succeed, they must occupy a shaded position, 

 and never be allowed to become dry. Give a cool, moist, 

 ■even temperature. If possible a glass case should 

 be provided for them, with provision made for ven- 

 tilation; a constant moist atmosphere can be more 

 easily maintained, and at the same time the green- 

 house in which they are grown may be freely ven- 

 tilated without injury to these plants. The material 

 in which they grow best is two-thirds fern root fiber 

 with the dust shaken out, and one-third chopped sphag- 

 num moss and silver sand, with a few nodules of char- 

 coal added. About the first week in July is perhaps the 

 best time for potting, though one must be guided by the 

 condition of the plants, choosing a time when they 

 are the least active. When well established they will 

 only require potting once in two years. The pots should 

 be placed in pot saucers as a safeguard against their 

 ever becoming dry. and all the space between the pots 



DASYLIRION 



457 



should be fill.- 

 the pots. 

 a gradua 



the 



I of 



engthe 



agnum moss up 1 

 f 40° to 45° during winter, with 

 in spring, will suit 

 they should be 

 kr-nt ■vrdl li ir!:,l, or iImv may be removed to a well 

 sli I ! ! ' ' jt-iili-, ill some secluded position free 



fi i • iini^. Propagation of these plants is 



til. i ' i, I i .11 ..I III,, roots, or by seeds sown on 

 liv.' .|.'i:ij.i;iii. 1.1 .-< ill ].ans. the moss being made very 

 even and the pans placed either under a bell jar or glass 

 case in a cool, moist atmosphere. [For detailed English 

 experience, see G.C. III. 24:338.] 



Edward J. Canning. 

 Darlingtonia Courtii was named after William Court, 

 for many years hybridizer and traveler for James 

 Veitch & Son. Some say it is a hybrid between a 



Nepenthes and Darlingluida Califomica. Its Ivs. or 

 pitchers are shorter and stouter than those of D. Call- 

 fornica, a,nd more rounded at the mouth. The stalks of 

 the pitchers bend out almost horizontally from the base 

 or crown of the plant and then be- 

 corue erect. The treatment is much 

 the same as for Z>. Califor 

 cept that it must be kept indoors in 

 winter. It thrives well in a house 

 with OJontoglossum crispum and 

 Masdtrallia. It is generally sus- 

 pended like Nepenthes. The writer 

 has successfully grown it when it 

 was potted in peat or sphagnum, in a 



small pot which was inverted into a larger pot, with a 

 layer of sphagnum packed in between, and the whole 

 kept constantly moist. It is an interesting and attrac- 

 tive plant, and enjoys considerable popularity in Eng- 

 i^'^^' Henry A. Siebkecht. 



DABNEL. LoUum perenne. 



DASYLtKION (Greek, <K«e<i Zi72/). Lili&cece. Highly 

 ornamental plants, well adapted for rockeries, for iso- 

 lated specimens on lawns, decoration of conservatories, 

 staircases, etc., and eminently suitable for terraces and 

 vases, in the formal style of gardening. Trunk short or 

 missing altogether : Ivs. in large number, inserted in a 

 symmetrical way, so as to form a dome or globe-shaped, 

 regular head, more or less serrulated, and in some 

 species ending in a brush-like tuft of dried fibers. The 

 tall panicles of numberless whitish green, minute fiow- 

 ers are also a striking feature. Dasylirions generally 

 branch after blooming. They are of the easiest pos- 

 sible culture, and will stand some degrees of frost, par- 

 ticularly if kept dry. Easily propagated from seeds 

 and from cuttings of the branches when produced, as 

 they do not sn..kcr as a rule. Six nr perhaps more 

 species altogetli. r. Nativi- ..f tin- ari.l nL'iou com- 



andnorthern M.'xi.-... Tlo' l'..ll..\viii-- aro i^idw n in south- 

 em gardens and ill |.ons.rvat.iri..s up n..rtli.but not as 

 much as they deserve. f. Fkanceschi. 



These plants are inferior to Tucca filameiitosa in 

 hardiness and in showiness and regularity of flowering, 

 but they have an individuality of their own which should 

 commend them to amateurs who like things that every- 

 body doesn't have. They are especially esteemed in 

 California, where the great flower-stalks, 8 or 10 ft. high, 



