66 



FLORA AND SYLVA, 



to them and rooting here and there 

 into the growth of moss and fibre thick- 

 ly coating their trunks. 



St Trowth and ° ther kinds of dwarfer 

 growth root upon the 

 ground and amongst the debris fall- 

 ing from overhead, their stems trailing 

 and covering the ground with pitchers. 

 Others again, as related by Mr. Bur- 

 bidge, thrive upon rocks near the rivers 

 or upon the sea-shore, exposed to a 

 fierce sun and drenched and scorched 

 by turns. The pitchers are suspended 

 as flasks or open urns upon a stout stalk, 

 which is a continuation of the midrib 

 of the leaf ; they are closed until nearing 

 maturity, when their colour becomes 

 brighter, the lid at the mouth expands, 

 and glands placed around its rim secrete 

 a sugary liquid by which insects are lured 

 into the fluid with which the urn is partly 

 filled, their escape being cut off by a 

 fringe of stout hairs or teeth upon the 

 inner rim. The fluid contained within 

 the pitcher resembles in its chemical 

 action that secreted by the stomachs of 

 animals, while the inner coating of the 

 sac shows glands capable of absorbing 

 the digested food elements. Insects of 

 all kinds areattracted both by the honied 

 secretions and by the bodies of previous 

 victims, and are in turn overcome by the 

 juices ; even small animals are some- 

 times entrapped. The properties of this 

 fluid are well known to the natives, who 

 make use of the draught from partly- 

 grown pitchers as an aid to digestion. 

 The plants differ in size from long 

 climbing stems of 30 feet to dwarf tufts 

 of about a foot,while the urns which they 

 bear are in some cases over 1 8 inches in 



length and in others smaller than a man's 

 thumb. They vary no less in shape, tex- 

 ture, and endurance, the mature pitch- 

 ers lasting in beauty from six months 

 to upwards of two years in some kinds, 

 and their colouring is varied in shades 

 of green, crimson, brown, and purple. 

 The leaves also not only vary kind from 

 kind, but are different at stages upon 

 the same plant. Upon the lower leaf- 

 stalks, where the finest pitchers are pro- 

 duced, the true leaves are less developed , 

 and in some cases only rudimentary, but 

 as the plant grows in height the urns be- 

 come smaller and the leaf-blade gains in 

 importance until no further pitchers ap- 

 pear and the plant flowers. The flowers, 

 borne in spikes, are green and not at all 

 showy, giving off a peculiar mouse- like 

 smell , hence, unless wanted for crossing, 

 it is usual to cut back the stems as soon 

 as the pitchers diminish, and so force 

 fresh pitcher-bearing growth from the 

 base. The sexes are apart in the Nepen- 

 thes, the seed-bearing flowers being fer- 

 tilised by wind-carried clouds of pollen 

 given off by the more numerous male 

 flowers ; save in the flower-spikes there 

 is little distinction between the sexes, 

 though in some kinds the male plant 

 would appear more vigorous and free. 



With little knowledge of the natu- 

 ral life of the plants, it was years before 



any of them were well 

 Culture. grown in Europe, and 



hence arose the idea of 

 their need of special houses. That this 

 is unnecessary is proved by the culture 

 of the hardier species and their hybrids 

 in ordinary glasshouses and with other 

 stove plants, though where a collection 



