PITCHER PLANT.
(SOLDIER’S DRINKING CUP.)
_Sarracenia purpurea._
EVEN the most casual observer can hardly pass a bed of these most
remarkable plants without being struck by their appearance, indeed, from
root to flower, it is every way worthy of our notice and admiration.
The Pitcher Plant is by no means one of those flowers found singly and
in inaccessible bogs and dense cedar-swamps, as are some of our rare and
lovely Orchids. In almost any grassy swamp, at the borders of low lying
lakes, and beaver-meadows, often in wet spongy meadows, it may be found
forming large beds of luxuriant growth.
When wet with recent showers or glistening with dew-drops, the rich
crimson veinings of the broadly scalloped lip of the tubular leaf (which
is thickly beset with fine stiff silvery hairs), retaining the moisture,
shine and glisten in the sun-light.
The root is thick, solid, and fibrous. The tubular leaves are of a
reddish tinge on the outer and convex side, but of a delicate light
green within. The texture is soft, smooth, and leathery; the base of the
leaf, at the root, is narrow and pipe-stem like, expanding into a large
hollow receptacle, capable of containing a wine-glass full of liquid;
even in dry seasons this cup is rarely found empty. The hollow form of
the leaves, and the broad ewer-like lips, have obtained for the plant
its local and wide-spread name of “Pitcher Plant,” and “Soldier’s
Drinking Cup.” The last name I had from a poor old emigrant pensioner,
when he brought me a specimen of the plant from the banks of a half
dried up lake, near which he was located: “Many a draft of blessed water
have we poor soldiers had when in Egypt out of the leaves of a plant
like this, and we used to call them the ‘Soldier’s Drinking Cup.’”
Most probably the plant that afforded the _blessed water_ to the poor
thirsty soldiers was the _Nepenthe distillaria_, which plant is found in
Egypt and other parts of Africa. Perhaps there are but few among the
inhabitants of this well-watered country that have as fully appreciated
the value of the PITCHER PLANT as did our poor uneducated Irish
pensioner, who said that he always thought that God in His goodness had
created the plant to give drink to such as were athirst on a hot and
toilsome march; and so he looked with gratitude and admiration on its
representative in Canada. Many a lesson may we learn from the lips of
the poor and the lowly.
Along the inner portion of the leaf there is a wing or flap which adds
to its curious appearance: from the section of the leaf has arisen the
somewhat inappropriate name of “_Side-Saddle Flower_.” The evident use
of this appendage is to contract the inner side of the leaf, and to
produce a corresponding rounding of the outer portion, which is thus
thrown back, and enables the moisture more readily to fill the cup.
Quantities of small flies, beetles, and other insects, enter the
pitcher, possibly for shelter, but are unable to effect a return, owing
to the reflexed bristly hairs that line the upper part of the tube and
lip, and thus find a watery grave in the moisture that fills the hollow
below.
The tall stately flower of the Pitcher Plant is not less worthy of our
attention than the curiously formed leaves. The smooth round simple
scape rises from the centre of the plant to the height of 18 inches to 2
feet. The flower is single and terminal, composed of 5 sepals, with
three little bracts; 5 blunt broad petals of a dull purplish-red colour,
sometimes red and light-yellowish green; and in one variety the petals
are mostly of a pale-green hue, and there is an absence of the crimson
veins in the leafage. The petals are incurved or bent downwards towards
the centre. The stamens are numerous. The ovary is 5-celled, and the
style is expanded at the summit into a 5 angled, 5 rayed umbrella-like
hood, which conceals beneath it 5 delicate rays, each terminating in a
little hooked stigma. The capsule or seed vessel is 5-celled and
5-valved; seeds numerous.
I have been more minute in the description of this interesting plant,
because much of its peculiar organization is hidden from the eye, and
cannot be recognized in a drawing, unless a strictly botanical one, with
all its interior parts dissected, and because the Pitcher Plant has
lately attracted much attention by its reputed medicinal qualities in
cases of small-pox, that loathsome scourge of the human race. A
decoction from the root of this plant has been said to lessen all the
more violent symptoms of the disorder. If this be really so, its use and
application should be widely spread; fortunately, the remedy would be in
the power of every one; like many of our sanative herbs it is to be
found without difficulty, and being so remarkable in its appearance can
never be mistaken by the most ignorant of our country herbalists for any
injurious substitute.[7]
-----
[7] The belief that a decoction of this plant is of use in small-pox has
been found by experiment to be quite chimerical.—J. B.
* * * * *
[Illustration: _PLATE X._]
1 CASTILLEIA COCCINEA
(Scarlet painted Cup)
2 ORCHIS SPECTABILIS
(Showy Orchis)
3 ARUM TRIPHYLLUM
(Indian Turnip)
4 RUDBECKIA FULGIDA
(Cone Flower)
* * * * *