NATIVE WILD FLOWERS 



like this, and we used to call it the ' Soldier's Drinking 

 Cup/ " 



Most probably the plant that afforded the " blessed 

 water " to the poor thirsty soldiers was the Nepenthes 

 distillatoria, which plant is found in Egypt and other 

 parts of Africa. Perhaps there are but few among the 

 inhabitants of this well-watered country that have as fully 

 appreciated the value of the Pitcher Plant as did our poor 

 uneducated Irish pensioner, who said that he always 

 thought that God in His goodness had created the plant to 

 give drink to such as were athirst on a hot and toilsome 

 march; and so he looked with gratitude and admiration 

 on its representative in Canada. 



Along the inner portion of the leaf there is a wing or 

 flap which adds to its curious appearance. The evident 

 use of this appendage is to contract the inner side of the 

 leaf and to produce a corresponding rounding of the outer 

 portion, which is thus thrown backwards, enabling the 

 moisture more readily to fill the cup and to be there 

 retained. Quantities of small flies, beetles and other insects 

 enter the pitcher, possibly for shelter, but are unable to get 

 out again owing to the reflexed bristly hairs that line the 

 upper part of the tube and lip, and thus find a watery grave 

 in the moisture that fills the hollow below. 



The tall stately blossom of the Pitcher Plant is not less 

 worthy of our attention than the curiously-formed leaves. 

 The smooth round simple scape rises from the centre of 

 the plant to the height of eighteen inches or two feet. The 

 flower is single and terminal, composed of five sepals, 

 with three little bracts; five blunt broad petals of a dull 

 purplish red color, but sometimes red and light-yellowish 

 green; and in one variety the petals are mostly of a pale- 

 green hue and there is an absence of the crimson veins in 

 the leafage. The petals are incurved or bent downwards 



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