DARLINGTONIA CAL1FOR.NICA. 



DARLINGTONIA CALIFORNICA, Tab. XII. 



Hab. — Head waters of the Sacramento ; Northern Cahfornia, near Shasta 

 Peak ; growing in marshes, and flowering in May. Mr. J. D. Brackenridge, and 

 Dr. G. W. Hulse. 



A perennial herb. Root-stock short and thick, producing numerous, stout, dark 

 brown, fibrous roots. Leaves all radical ; the adult ones from eighteen inches to 

 two feet or more in length ; the petiole or pitcher tubular, gradually tapering down- 

 ward, and singularly twisted on its axis about half a turn, marked with strong 

 parallel and longitudinal veins which are connected by very slender veinlets. The 

 summit is vaulted, and formed into a sac about the size of a hen's egg, on the 

 under side of which is an oval orifice, about half an inch in diameter, opening 

 into the cavity of the pitcher. The areola; of the sac, and also of the back of the 

 tube, on the upper part, are discolored (of a dull orange color in the dried speci- 

 mens), as in Sarracenia variolaris and S. Drumraondii. Along the inside of the 

 petiole is a narrow wing, which is single, except at the base, where it separates 

 into two plates that clasp the scape and the base of the superior leaves. The lamina 

 is narrow at the base, and deeply divided into two somewhat unequal widely- 

 spreading lobes, which are oblong-lanceolate, rather acute, bent downwards and 

 often also backwards ; the inner (or properly upper) surface very minutely pubes- 

 cent. The pitcher inside the hood is retrorsely hirsute with short conical hairs ; 

 from thence downward it is glabrous ; but towards the base it is lined with long 

 slender hairs, also pointing downwards : at the bottom remains of insects Avere 

 found. Neither these hairs, nor those of the lamina, appeared to be of a secreting 

 character.* The scape is from one to four feet long, flexuous, angular, glabrous, 

 and furnished with sessile clasping straw-colored scales. These scales are folia- 

 ceous and alternate ; the lower ones distant and lanceolate, the upper more and 

 more approximated and broader, while those near the flower are oblong-ovate and 

 imbricate. They are marked with longitudinal veins, which are forked above. 

 The upper surface is paler than the lower, and under a lens shows minute conical 

 papillae. The flower, when fully expanded, is nearly two inches in diameter. The 

 calyx consists of five oblong, rather acute sepals, which are of pale straw-color, and 

 are quincuncially imbricated. There are no calyculate bractlets at their base. The 

 corolla is five-petalled, about the length of the calyx, and its aestivation is hkewise 

 quincuncial. The petals are oblong, pale purple, marked with deeper reticulated 

 veins, and are apparently not connivent over the pistil. They are furnished with 

 a small ovate, concave lamina, and a very broad, obovate claw, which is two or 

 three times larger than the lamina. Stamens from twelve to fifteen, hypogynous, 



* The orifice of the Pitcher, being placed directly under the vaulted summit, cannot receive either 

 rain water or dew ; and yet Mr. Brackenridge thinks he found some of the leaves containing water. 

 Still I cannot think the water was secreted by the hairs in the tube. In Sarracenia psittacina the orifice 

 is likewise concealed and protected by the hood, so that the leaf can hardly be said to have any lamina ; 

 the arclied summit belonging to the petiole, as in Darlingtonia. 



