SABBACENIA PURPUREA-SIDE SADDLE FLOWER, 



CLASS, POLYANDRIA ; ORDER, MONOGYNIA. 

 NATURAL ORDER, SARRACENIACEJS. 



GEN. CHAR. Calyx double, permanent, three and five leaved. 

 Corol five petalled, caducous. Stigma peltate, permanent, very 

 large, covering the stamens. Capsule five celled, five valved, many 

 seeded. SPEC, CHAR. Leaves radical, short globose, inflated or 

 cup form, contracted at the mouth, having a broad arched lateral 

 wing ; the contracted part of the base hardly as long as the inflated 

 part. Scape with a single large nodding flower. 



This celebrated plant owes its strange appearance to a curious 

 pitcher-shaped metamorphosis of the leaf, which resembles very 

 much an old fashioned side saddle; six of these belong generally 

 to each plant. The leaf which springs from the root is formed by 

 a large hollow tube swelling out in the middle, curved and dimin- 

 ishing downwards till it ends in a stem, contracted at the mouth, 

 furnished with a large spreading, heart shaped appendage at the top, 

 which is hairy within, the hairs pointing downwards ; and a broad 

 wavy wing extending the whole length on the inside ; these lie upon 

 the ground with their mouths turned upwards so as to catch the 

 water when it falls. They hold nearly a wine glass full and are gen- 

 erally filled; making an ocean in which many genera of aquatic 

 insects take up their abode. The stem rises direct from the root ; 

 it is a foot or more in length, round, quite smooth, and bearing a 



