SARRACENIA PITCHER-PLANT. 85 



green ; angles emarginate, the small, hooked stigmas projecting down- 

 ward from the angles of the notches. Scape simjole, smooth, about 1 foot 

 high, sm-rounded at its base by a cluster of about half a dozen leaves, 

 which are pitcher-like in form, upon short clasping petioles, dilated 

 above, and terminated by an erect, round, heart-shaped hood, lined with 

 stilT bristly hairs, pointing downward. The openings of the leaves are di- 

 rected upward in such manner as to collect rain-drops, and theii* cavities 

 are generally about full of water. A fully developed leaf will contain a 

 half ounce or more of liquid. Owing to the downward direction of the 

 hairs lining the mouths of the pitchers, insects falHug into them are 

 unable to get out, and it has been contended by some that the plant 

 derives a part of its nourishment by a sort of digestion of insects thus cap- 

 tured and drowned. The flowers are produced in June. 



Habitat. — In cold bogs and marshes, from Hudson's Bay to Florida. 

 Quite common about the margins of ponds in tamarack swamps. 



Sarracenia flava Linne. — Trumpet-leaf, Watches. 



Description. — Leaves erect, 2 to 3 feet long, trumpet-shaped, narrowly 

 winged; lamina 3 to 4 inches wide, yellow, erect, orbicular, slender- 

 pointed, tomentose within, reddish at the base, or reticulated with purple 

 veins. Scapes as long as the leaves. Flowers 4 to 5 inches wide, yellow, 

 aj^pearing in April and May. — Chupmau. 



Sarracenia variolaris Michaux.— S/w/tecZ Trumpet-Leaf. 



Description. — Leaves erect, trumpet-shaped, broadly winged, spotted 

 with white near the yellowish summit ; lamina ovate, concave, arching 

 over the orifice of the tube, hairy and reticulated with j)ui-ple veins 

 within. Flowers 2 inches wide, yellow, on scapes shorter than the leaves, 

 api^earing in May. — Chupman. 



Habitat. — The two species of yellow-flowered sarracenia grow in low, 

 wet pine barrens, from North Carolina to Florida and westwai'd. 



Parts Used. — The rhizome and rootlets — not official. 



Constituents. — Analyses of these plants by difterent chemists have 

 yielded different results. Professor U. C. Shepard found " an acid or an 

 acid salt, and also an astringent property, due neither to tannic nor gallic 

 acid, and a salt of some alkaloid, related perhaps to cinchonia, which, 

 should it prove new, may be called sarracenin " (Porcher). Stan. Martin 

 obtained a bitter alkaloid, sarracenina, whose sulphate is crystallizable, and 

 F. Schmidt isolated an acid yellow coloring matter, sarracenic acid. So 

 far as ascertained, the proximate princii^les obtained by analysis have not 

 been subjected to therapeutic experimentation. 



Preparations. — There are neither official nor commercial preparations. 

 The powdered root may be administered in substance, or a tincture or in- 

 fusion may be employed. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — According to Dr. Porcher, sarracenia is 

 used to a considerable extent in the Southern States as a bitter tonic and 



