Observations on the genus Sarracenia ; with an Account 

 of a New Species. By H. B. Croom. (Corresponding 

 Member.) 



Read September 5lh, 1836. 



Having enjoyed very favourable opportunities of observing 

 the genus Sarracenia, and having examined all the known 

 species in their native situations, I have been induced, while 

 preparing a notice of an undescribcd species, to extend my re- 

 marks so as to include a cursory account of the whole of this 

 curious genus. On account of their singular structure these 

 plants have always been objects of more than common interest ; 

 and the fact that they are exclusively North American, gives 

 them an additional claim to the notice of our own botanists. 



The genus Sarracenia,* was named by Tournefort, in 

 honour of Dr. Sarrasin, a French physician of considerable 

 eminence, who resided at Quebec, in the latter part of the seven- 

 teenth and in the beginning of the eighteenth century, and by 

 whom, probably, the earliest known species was sent to Europe. 

 Dr. Sarrasin was a correspondent of Tournefort, and also of 

 the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, and appears to 

 have been a man of extensive acquirements, both in medicine 

 and natural history. Charlevoix, in his travels, referring to 

 the paper on the beaver, in the Memoirs of the Royal Aca- 

 demy, (An. 1704, p. 48) says — " On ya inse'rC une descrip- 

 tion anatomique du Castor, faite par M. Sarrasin, correspondant 

 de l'Academie, Medecin du Roi dans ce pays, habile dans la 

 medecine, dans l'anatomie, dans la chirurgie, et dans la bota- 

 nique ; qui a Pesprit fort orne", et qui ne se distingue pas moins 

 dans la conseil superieure, dont il est membre, que par son 



* Or, as it Bhould hive been written, Sarratinia. 



