2o6 PITCHER-PLANT FAMILY. 



TRUnPETS. {Plate LXI.) 

 Sarrachiia DriwunoPAiii. 



Flowers: three to four inches wide; solitary; terminal and nodding from gla- 

 brous scapes two to two and a half feet high which arise from scaly rootstocks. 

 Sepals : five, coloured and having bracts underneath. Petals: five. Stajuens : 

 numerous. Pistil : one; with dilated style which divides into five rays something 

 like an umbrella, each ray being terminated by a hooked stigma. Leaves : twenty 

 or thirty inches long; erect; trumpet-shaped with narrow wing and erect, rounded 

 lid, covered with fine, white hairs; this lid and upper part of the leaf being white 

 and variegated with purple veins. 



Almost every one has heard about plants with curious, carnivorous appe- 

 tites which by means of their special construction to this end, are able first 

 to entrap small insects and then through certain cells, to absorb the prod- 

 ucts of their decomposition. Such are all the pitcher-plants, and of which 

 our present species is most striking in its beauty. Its flowers are great 

 radiant things, innocent-looking enough and especially interesting in for- 

 mation from the umbrella-like shape of their styles. It is, however, the leaves 

 that are wide awake to secure a livelihood. They are not content with the 

 luxurious sunshine, the summer air and the rain ; they must have animal 

 food. Like trumpets they are tightly folded together ; are closed at the 

 bottom, while the part which extends above their top is suggestive of a little 

 lid. Within they are lined with a sweet substance which acts as a lure 

 to many small insects, and they once within the leaf's grasp reap the 

 wages of their folly. It is difficult to get out again, indeed the sharp, down- 

 pointed hairs make it impossible for such little crawling creatures to climb 

 upward. They have but to succumb to their fate, vicarious suffering, that 

 the strange, beautiful plant may have abundant life. Trumpets, as without 

 discrimination the members of this genus are called in the south are among 

 the characteristic flowers of the pine barren strip of country. In the swamps 

 between Aiken, S. C, and Richmond County, N. C, this one is especially 

 common. 



S. rubra, red-flowered trumpet-leaf, has long and slim leaves, with narrow 

 wings and erect, ovate lids which within are hairy, or tomentose. Often 

 they measure eighteen inches high. Above they are pale in colour and 

 much veined with dark purple. Usually the flowering scape rises above the 

 leaves and bears a reddish purple flower. At the sepal's base there are 

 three coloured bracts. From Florida to North Carolina the plant follows 

 the pine barren swamps, or sometimes is found in mountain bogs. 



^. Psittaciiia, parrot-beaked pitcher-plant, a most attractive individual 

 found through pine barren swamps from Florida to Georgia, has compara- 



