80 FLOWERS AND FRUITS. 



single terminal flower which is large, nodding, and of an elegant, 

 deeply reddish purple color. It has two flower cups ; the external 

 consisting of three small leaves; the internal of five egg shaped 

 obtuse leaves, shiny, and of a brownish purple. The blossoms 

 are five, guitar shaped, obtuse, repeatedly curved inward and out- 

 ward, and finally inflected over the stigma, which is broad and 

 spreading, divided at its margin into five bifid lobes, alternating with 

 the petals, and supported on a short cylindrical style ; this is sur- 

 rounded by the stamens which are numerous, having short threads 

 and large two celled, oblong yellow anthers attached to them on the 

 under surface. 



This genus was named by the celebrated naturalist, Tournefort, 

 in honour of his friend, Dr Sarrazin of Quebec, who first sent him 

 a specimen in 1752. Some suppose the common name to be derived 

 from the fancied resemblance of the expanded stigma to a woman's 

 pillion. In the yellow flowered species of the southern states the 

 bottle is very long, resembling a trumpet, by which name it is often 

 called. The whole species are of course water plants and found 

 naturally only in wet boggy places and marshes. This soil is arti- 

 ficially supplied to them by filling pots with turfy peat or mud from 

 swamps, surrounding the upper part with water moss, and placing 

 the whole in water some inches deep, so as to ensure a plentiful 

 supply of the indispensable element ; treated in this way it not only 

 thrives well here, bat also in England where it is considered a great 

 curiosity. It flowers in June and July. The seeds of the plant 

 are somewhat scabrous and compressed. It is the emblem of AS- 

 SUMED ECCENTRICITY, as it is merely singular without being of 

 much value ; this appropriate signification was conferred on it by 

 Miss. E. Sanford. It is of course one of our American Wild 

 Flowers ; among which we leave it to our readers if we are not 

 presenting them with specimens that will compare advantageously 

 with any produced on our globe. 



