PLANTS GROWING IN MUD. 47 



name indicates, it is poisonous. Chickens especially have fallen 

 victims to eating its seeds, and the fatal mistake has been made 

 by individuals of using the young leaves for those of the marsh 

 marigold, in which case death has been the result. 



PITCHER=PLANT. HUNTSMAN'S=CUP. SIDESADDLE= 



FLOWER. {Plate X V) 



Sarrachiia purpurea. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Pitcher-J>luni. Crimson, green, or /ink. Fragrant. Mostly north June. 



and east. 



Flowers : x\o^^\\\g\ solitary ; growing on a naked scape about one foot high. 

 Calyx : of live large, coloured sepals having three bractlets underneath. Co- 

 rolla : of five incurved petals that close over the umbrella-like top of the style. 

 Stame?is : numerous. Pistil : o\\^ ; branching at five angles like an umbrella, 

 and five hooked stigmas. Leaves : the shape of pitchers, open, with an erect 

 hood, and side wings, the margins folded together; conspicuously veined with 

 purple. 



It is only because we are ill-informed about plant-life that it 

 ever surprises us ; and to have passed beyond the brink of won- 

 der at the actions of the pitcher-plant, argues a good amount 

 of knowledge. It is one of the most stragetic of the insectivo- 

 rous plants. The leaves have their margins united together, so 

 as to form quaint little pitchers, closed at the bottom and open 

 at the top. They are lined with a sticky, sugary substance 

 that entices small insects to explore to their depths. Here the 

 pitchers, with an absolute disregard of all Christian charity, 

 have arranged innumerable little bristles, pointed downwards ; 

 and once entrapped the poor victim can escape in neither di- 

 rection. The rain is also held by them, and serves to drown 

 any mite that is unusually tenacious of life. We generally find 

 them partly filled with water and drowned insects, which afford 

 the plants an extra amount of nourishment. These leaves often 

 remain a curious feature of swamp life until Jack Frost covers 

 them with his white overcoat ; but in the exquisite spring bloom 

 is when the plants are most ravishing in their beauty. From a 

 distance they appear like the mystic blending of colours in a 

 Persian rug. 



