PITCHER-PLANTS. 197 



East Indies, is successfully cultivated in several places. 

 A large branch which I have received from Went- 

 worth, throuffh the kindness of Lord Fitzwilliam, 

 gives me an opportunity of describing it to you in 

 detail ; and I know no plant that better deserves to 

 be understood. 



The stem of Nepenthes distillatoria, the only species 

 as yet in the possession of cultivators, forms a slender 

 woody stem, grooving ten or twelve feet high, or pro- 

 bably much longer, and supporting itself upon sur- 

 rounding plants, by means of its numerous tendrils. 

 In its native country it inhabits swampy situations, 

 and consequently, in a hothouse, it must be treated 

 accordingly. At the lower part of the stem there 

 appear a few^ leaves of a bright green colour, a little 

 curved back at the point, where they are rounded off, 

 tapering to the base and half embracing the stem ; 

 these leaves varv in lensfth from one to four or five 

 inches, and have nothing in their appearance to dis- 

 tinguish them from ordinary leaves. But higher up 

 the stem, the leaves grow much longer, and taper into 

 a tendril at the point, from which is suspended a long 

 funnel-shaped, green cup, often as large as a three 

 ounce vial, covered by a lid, and sometimes containing 

 water. At first it is entirely closed up by the lid, but 

 after a time the latter separates, except by its hinge, 

 and merely overhangs the mouth of the cup, which is 

 bordered by an exquisitely beautiful, stiff, crimped 

 frill, which curves inwards, and forms a broad ledge 

 on which the sides of the lid may rest. In all cases 

 the pitchers contain fluid at some time or other ; but 



