NATIVE WILD FLOWERS 
like this, and we used to call it the ‘Soldier’s Drinking 
Cup.’ ”? 
Most probably the plant that afforded the “blessed 
water” to the poor thirsty soldiers was the Nepenthes 
distillatoria, which plant is found in Egypt and other 
parts of Africa. Perhaps there are but few among the 
inhabitants of this well-watered country that have as fully 
appreciated the value of the Pitcher Plant as did our poor 
uneducated Irish pensioner, who said that he always 
thought that God in His goodness had created the plant to 
give drink to such as were athirst on a hot and toilsome 
march; and so he looked with gratitude and admiration 
on its representative in Canada. 
Along the inner portion of the leaf there is a wing or 
flap which adds to its curious appearance. The evident 
use of this appendage is to contract the inner side of the 
leaf and to produce a corresponding rounding of the outer 
portion, which is thus thrown backwards, enabling the 
moisture more readily to fill the cup and to be there 
retained. Quantities of small flies, beetles and other insects 
enter the pitcher, possibly for shelter, but are unable to get 
out again owing to the reflexed bristly hairs that line the 
upper part of the tube and lip, and thus find a watery grave 
in the moisture that fills the hollow below. 
The tall stately blossom of the Pitcher Plant is not less 
worthy of our attention than the curiously-formed leaves. 
The smooth round simple scape rises from the centre of 
the plant to the height of eighteen inches or two feet. The 
flower is single and terminal, composed of five sepals, 
with three little bracts; five blunt broad petals of a dull 
purplish red color, but sometimes red and light-yellowish 
green; and in one variety the petals are mostly of a pale 
green hue and there is an absence of the crimson veins in 
the leafage. The petals are incurved or bent downwards 
77 
