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A NEW PITCHER-PLANT, i

FROM NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

BY JOUN TORREY, FS

wpa comer nea nae nem

WASHINGTON CITY:
PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTIO

APRIL, 1953. a

Ani a iglnntehi MRab

NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM & CO

sone kaa

DARLINGTONIA CAL

Mo. Bot. Garden, —
13 i ee

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Sage

WHICH THIS PAPER HAS BEEN REFERRED,

ON THE

DARLINGTONIA CALIFORNIGA,

A NEW PITCHER-PLANT,
FROM NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

BY JOHN TORREY, F.LS._

Tuis new Pitcher-plant was first detected by Mr. J. D. Brackenridge, Assistant-
Botanist to the United States’ Exploring Expedition, under Captain Wilkes,
while passing overland from Oregon to San Francisco, in the year 1842. He
found it in a marsh, bordering a small tributary of the Upper Sacramento, a
few miles south of Shasta Peak. Owing to the lateness of the season (it was
October), the flowers had passed; and not even a seed vessel was found, but only
the leaves and tall scapes, with the remains of a single capsule. The leaves,
however, were so peculiar, that no doubt was entertained of the plant being either
a Sarracenia, or a near ally of that genus. Without the flowers, nothing further
could be determined respecting it ; but from the bracteate scape and deeply parted
lamina or appendage of the leaves, it seemed more probable that it was distinct
from Sarracenia. Long had I been hoping to receive the plant in a more com-
plete state, when it was at last brought to me by my friend, Dr. G. W. Hulse, of
New Orleans, who found it in flower in May, 1851, in the same region, and
perhaps in the very spot where it was discovered many years before by Mr.
Brackenridge. The plant proves to be generically distinct from Sarracenia, as
well as from the genus Heliamphora of Bentham; and I take great pleasure in
dedicating it to my highly esteemed friend Dr. William Darlington, of West
Chester, in Pennsylvania, whose valuable botanical works have contributed so
largely to the scientific reputation of our country. The genus dedicated to this
veteran botanist by De Candolle has been reduced to a section of Desmanthus by

a ‘alifornian plant, on imperfect specimens of which, I had recently
under this name, proves to be moses a Species of Styrax.* The
, oF es

Sletolare, 5-lobatum ; api ce dithsatuin concavum.
— 3 aerges — ———— apice intus

ees,

rennis, California, tliginos, foliis ‘Sarracenie ‘amin ie:

aving “recently iieed ak. pthc specimens of this plant, the following
n of it is Beret: —

pes
ie

Se It arta incr cum gee brevissime 6- dentato sub-

on the upper side at are wiaatiy! quite smooth. “The racemes are
nity of short leafy branches, and are mostly about three:

Style slender, longer than the stamens; :
Tmmature f fruit Shoelied, with a ee seed.

: xf the genus
x resemblance to S. officinale of Southern
is } ey by its fewer-flowered racemes, thickened
r stamineal tube. There is a well-marked, unpublished species (S. PLATINI-
gathered on the Guadaloupe, north of New Braunfels, Texas, by Mr.
of which is more commonly Sparted. Its dilated and subcordate
on both sides. ae

Neal a eaten ——————a

DARLINGTONIA CALIFORNICA, Sax XI

Has.—Head waters of the Sacramento ; Northern Cagvaiin’ near §
Peak ; growing in marshes, and flowering in May. Mr. J. D. Brackenri
Dr. G. W. Hulse. :

A perennial herb. Root-stock short and thick, producing numeroulntan
brown, fibrous roots. Leaves all radical; the adult ones from eighteen inche
two feet or more in length; the petiole or pitcher tubular, gradually tapering dow
ward, and singularly twisted on its axis about half a turn, marked with strong
parallel and longitudinal veins which are connected by very slender veinlets. The
summit is vaulted, and formed into a sac about the size of a hen’s egg, on the
under side of which is an oval orifice, about half an inch in diameter, opening
into the cavity of the pitcher. The areola of the sac, and also of the back of the
tube, on the upper part, are discolored (of a dull orange color in the dried speci-
mens), as in Sarracenia variolaris and S. Drummondii. Along the inside of the
petiole is a narrow wing, which is single, except at the base, where it separates.
into two plates that clasp the scape and the base of the superior leaves. ‘The lamina
is narrow at the base, and deeply divided into two somewhat unequal widely- —_—-
spreading lobes, which are oblong-lanceolate, rather acute, bent downwards and
often also backwards ; the inner (or properly upper) surface very minutely pubes-
cent. The pitcher inside the hood is retrorsely hirsute with short conical hairs ;
from thence downward it is glabrous; but towards the base it is lined with long
slender hairs, also pointing downwards: at the bottom remains of insects were
found. Neither these hairs, nor those of the lamina, appeared to be of a secreting
character.* The scape is from one to four feet long, flexuous, angular, glabrous,
and furnished with sessile clasping straw-colored scales. These scales : =
ceous and alternate ; the lower ones distant and lanceolate, the upper |
more approximated and broader, while those near the flower are 0
imbricate. They are marked with longitudinal veins, which are forked above.
‘The upper strfaed.3 is paler than the lower, and under a lens shows minute cor ical
papille. The flower, when fully expanded, is nearly two inches in diameter. — The
calyx consists of five oblong, rather acute sepals, which are of pale straw-color, and
are quincuncially imbricated. There are no calyculate bractlets at their base. The
corolla is five-petalled, about the length of the calyx, and its estivation is likewise
quincuncial. The petals are: oblong, pale purple, marked with deeper | eticulated
veins, and are apparently not conniyent over the pistil. They are furnished with
a small ovate, concave lamina, and a very broad, obovate claw, which is. two or
ahrae times larger than ihe lamina. Stamens ici twelve to Sinema hypog

rain 1 water or ae and yet Mr. Bracketnidgs thinks he found some of the leaves P setndiat ng wal
Still I cannot think the water was secreted by the hairs in the tube. In Sarracenia psittacina the orifi
is likewise concealed and protected by the hood, so that the leaf can hardly be said to have any la
the arched summit belonging to the petiole, as in Deine

— CALIFORNICA.

gle series, and Darily concealed by the dilated summit of the
oe stout: anthers oblong, with the cells very
urn ned by the twisting | of the filament so that

be | rie 2 aivtaiat 'g0 as to. exhibit a sort of margin
. hich projects over the stamens : - the columnar style i is short, and five-cleft at the
summit ; the narrow segments diverging, and stigmatose at the extremity, on the
inside. Ovules very numerous, anatropous, covering the large placente, which
project into the cells of the ovary. No fruit was found; but, on one of the
specimens collected by Mr. Brackenridge, there was a small portion of ¢ a capsule,
which was evidently five-celled.
From Sarracenia, this genus differs in the calyx not being calyculate ; in the
of the petals ; ; in the somewhat definite and uniserial stamens : ; in the dilated
turbinate ovary ; ; and especially 1 in the absence of the large umbrella-shaped summit
_of the style, which is so conspicuous in the former genus. The forked lamina of
the leaf, and the bracteate scapes, are also characters not found in any
_ Sarracenia.

From Heliamphora, it is still more distinct. In that genus, the scapes are
several-flowered, and the flowers are destitute both of calyculate bracts and petals;
— the style i is entire and not dilated at the summit, and the ovary is three-celled. The

é differ in their greatly dilated orifice, in | the very small lamina, and in
y-winged pitchers.

he ‘geopraphical siatesbution of Sarraceniacee is worthy of notice. This
| order consists of but three genera, which are all exclusively natives of
3 er The oldest or typical genus is confined to North America ; and, of the
_ Six species, one only (Sarracenia purpurea) has an extensive range, being found
from lat. 48°, north, to Southern Florida, but westward only as far as Ohio; the
remaining species being confined to the Southern States. Heliamphora, a genus
of a single species, is a native of British Guiana, and has not been found else-
where. Darlingtonia is the only representative of the order west of the Rocky
‘ins, and even there it seems to be extremely rare. _

Sarraceniacew, notwithstanding the discovery of Heliamphora,
f ano’ ; to the same family, are nearly as obscure as
i resemblance to Nymphacee and Papaveracee has been pointed out
everal botanists; and Dr. Lindley, without hesitation, places it between the
der and Pannsiculacess, A more remote affinity to Droseracee has also
ted ; ond rae phoweters memes seen in ae stractare of the leaf of

‘ The most recent épinion reapetting the alae of Siraccmnces | is rehiat of M.
on,* who thinks these plants are very closely related to Pyrolacee. This
anist points out some striking characters in which Sarracenia resembles

. “* Hooker's London Journal of Botany, 5, p. 252.

DARLINGTONIA CALIFORNICA. . 7

the genus Moneses (Pyrola uniflora, Linn.) ; in addition to which, it may be ,
remarked that the seeds of Heliamphora are furnished with a loose winged testa
and a minute embryo, as in Pyrolacee. Between Moneses and Darlingtonia the
comparison may be drawn still more closely: in the floral envelopes and the
almost definite stamens, in the structure of the ovary and in the radiating stigmas,
as well as in habit, the likeness of our new genus to Moneses is quite remarkable.
In many points, too, we may trace in Darlingtonia an approach to Monotropa, of
the nearly related family Monotropacee. Heliamphora, in its several-flowered
scapes, is more like Pyrola. The singular pitchers of Sarraceniacee might seem
to show a wide difference between the families thus compared, but characters
drawn from the abnormal condition of a single organ are not of high importance in
determining affinities. In conclusion, I would remark that, while offering a few
additional considerations that seem to strengthen the views of M. Planchon, I do
not wish to be considered as yet adopting those views. When we obtain the fruit
of the Darlingtonia, perhaps it may give us some better knowledge of the place
that its family should occupy in the Natural system.

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PU THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
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DARLINGTONIA CALIFORNICA _ Lith af Brdicote & CONE