FOREWORD 



HE STUDENT of wildflowers encounters many forms that are of 

 unusual interest for one reason or another, but next to the orchids, 

 probably the most spectacular are the members of the family of 

 pitcherplants, comprising only fifteen species in the United States and 

 Canada. Their beautiful coloring and strange mode of growth alone 

 would make them outstanding among wildflowers; add to this the 

 amazing association with insect life, wherein insects are trapped in the 

 pitchers and digested by the plants, and their strong appeal to the curi- 

 osity and interest is easy to understand. 



The collection of pitcherplant sketches here gathered together is the 

 result of several years' work. Eight of them were published in the 

 writer's "North American Wild Flowers"; these, with the others, mostly 

 new forms recently collected, comprise all the known members of the 

 family that are native in North America. All occur east of the Rocky 

 Mountains, except the California pitcherplant, native in northern Cali- 

 fornia and southern Oregon. Four species are known from Guiana. 



The plants grow in acid soil in peat bogs and savannahs, mainly along 

 the Atlantic Coastal Plain at low altitudes. They range from the southern 

 United States bordering the Gulf of Mexico and in the lower Mississippi 

 Valley and northward up the Atlantic Coast into Labrador. In Canada 

 they are found as far west as the Athabasca valley. 



With proper care most of them can easily be grown in a cool green- 



