ON THE 



DAKLINGTONIA CALIFORNICA, 



A NEAV PITCHER-PLANT, 



FEOM NOETHEEN OALIFOENIA. 



BY JOHN TORREY, F.L.S. 



This new Pitcher-plant was first detected by Mr. J. D. Brackenridge, Assistant- 

 Botanist to the United States' Exploring Expedition, under Captain Wilkes, 

 while passing overland from Oregon to San Francisco, in the year 1842. He 

 found it in a marsh, bordering a small tributary of the Upper Sacramento, a 

 few miles south of Shasta Peak. Owing to the lateness of the season (it was 

 October), the flowers had passed ; and not even a seed vessel was found, but only 

 the leaves and tall scapes, with the remains of a single capsule. The leaves, 

 however, were so peculiar, that no doubt was entertained of the plant being either 

 a Sarracenia, or a near ally of that genus. Without the flowers, nothing further 

 could be determined respecting it ; but from the bracteate scape and deeply parted 

 lamina or appendage of the leaves, it seemed more probable that it was distinct 

 from Sarracenia. Long had I been hoping to receive the plant in a more com- 

 plete state, when it was at last brought to me by my friend, Dr. G. W. Hulse, of 

 New Orleans, who found it in flower in May, 1851, in the same region, and 

 perhaps in the very spot where it was discovered many years before by Mr. 

 Brackenridge. The plant proves to be generically distinct from Sarracenia, as 

 well as from the genus Heliamphora of Bentham ; and I take great pleasure in 

 dedicating it to my highly esteemed friend Dr. William Darlington, of West 

 Chester, in Pennsylvania, whose valuable botanical works have contributed so 

 largely to the scientific reputation of our country. The genus dedicated to this 

 veteran botanist by De Candolle has been reduced to a section of Desmanthus by 



