296 
FLORA AND SYLVA 
THE TRUMPET-LEAVED 
PITCHER-PLANTS {Sarracenm).'' 
These interesting plants belong to a 
small natural order of their own, divided 
into the three genera Sarracenia^ Da? - 
lingtonia^ and Heliamphora^ their near- 
est allies being the Poppies and the 
Water-lilies. Of the Sarracenias there 
are six species, some of which vary con- 
siderably in size, form, and colour, some 
of these variations probably arising 
from wild hybridism. The genus was 
named by Tournefort in compliment 
to Dr Sarrazin of Quebec, who appears 
to have been the first to send specimens 
of these plants to Europe. They are 
all bog or marsh-plants, growing on 
half-buried trunks of trees or on sphag- 
num-moss and wet turfy soil, near water 
and in open places. All the Sarracenias 
are North American, Darlingtonia 
comes from California, and the rare and 
beautiful Heliamphora or Sun-cup from 
Guiana. The hardiest, oldest, and best- 
known of the Sarracenias is S. purpurea^ 
introduced before 1640 and followed 
by a5. flava in 1 7 5 2 , aS". rubra in 1786, 
S. variolaris m 1803, S. Drtmunondi^ 
in 1829, and S, psittacma in 1866. 
Popularly these are known as " Side- 
saddle flowers," a name at first sight a 
little far-fetched until the flower is 
closely examined, when the turned-up 
lobes of the broad green stigma are 
seen to suggest the pommel of a lady's 
saddle, while the riding-habit is repre- 
sented by the great coloured petal that 
hangs down between the lobes. Other 
popular names for Sarracenia are Indian 
or Huntsmen's Cups, Trumpet-leaf, 
and American Pitcher-Plants. 
The Sarracenias are half-hardy per- 
ennials growing from 6 to 8 inches — 
as in aS'. purpurea and S. psittacina — 
to 1 8 inches or 3 feet as in S. flava and 
the beautifully variegated S. Drum- 
mo7tdii. The fully developed leaves of 
all are more or less trumpet-shaped, or 
after the manner of a coach-horn, with a 
lid like a penthouse arching over the 
mouth, though held quite stationary and 
never closing down over it. These lids 
are elegant in shape and in one kind (S. 
psittaci7id) quaintly hooded, while their 
surface is netted with highly coloured 
streaks and veins. All the species have 
various shaped leaves, some being shaped 
like a knife-blade, and others flanged or 
linear. The flowers are large and con- 
spicuous, borne on smooth, rounded 
stems which may be shorter or longer 
than the leaves, and are naked save for 
three rounded bracts just below the 
flower. The flowers are nodding and 
regular, consisting of five persistent 
greenish sepals and five fiddle-shaped 
petals which are often highly coloured 
and soon drop or fade away. The 
anthers are yellow and densely clustered 
just below the seed-bearing capsule, 
while one of the most striking points 
about these flowers is the great size of 
the inverted, umbrella-shaped stigma. 
These hang below the nodding flowers 
and one of their uses would appear to 
be the retention of the fugacious anthers 
and their pollen in order to render fer- 
tilisation more certain and complete. 
Although the stigmas are so large (being 
one to two inches across) the parts to 
which the pollen is applied by wind or 
insect agency are merely points or tiny 
* With coloured plate from a drawing by the late H. G. Moon. 
