The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-07-16
The PITCHER PLANT.
(Copyrishted, 1905. by The Nature
Story Syndicate9
HARRIET l. KELLER

Sarracenia purpurea. Pitcher Plant
or Sidesaddle Flower belongs TO a most
wonderful and interesting group of
plants Although this plaut-group is
ny no means confined to a single family.
It's members are alike in one respect
they are carnivorous, insectivorous in
fact. That plant. rooted 10 its place
should be able to catch and eat insects
IS tale too astonishing for belief We're
IL not esta blished beyond controversy.
Among caTnivorous plants native to the
United States are the Venus FIy-traps
and the Sundews. as well as the Sara
cenias. Our Venus Fly-trap of North
Carolina, DioDaea muscipa1a, has leaf
so constructed that when an insect
aIlghts upon one side of it the two sides
begin slowly TO come together and
finally the insect is held like d mouse
in trap.
The Sundews are water loving plants,
found in boys and marshes throushout
covered with curious hairs, or rather
tentacles, terminating in dubbed ends
which. filled with a Viscid fluid sparkle
in the sun like tiny dew drops. These
leaves are to lure the fly to taste-but
having once stopped he never goes on,
the Viscid secretion from these tentacIes
close and choke his breathing pores
and he dies of suffocation. Then the
tentacles. having killed him, suck his
life juices and after "A little what is left
Sarracenia purpurea is a bog plant.
ranging from Labrador to the Canadian
Rockies and southwark 10 the Gulf
States The name commentaries the
laborS of DR.. j. A. Sarracin, bOtanist
OF Quebec The plant is striking be-
cause of its leaves. These leaves are
Pitcher-shaped. or rather trumpet
shaped. from three to five inches long,
erect, growing in tufts and immediately
from the root. The normal leaf of plants
a . rI,-fF,
and edges more or less notched and
scalloped. Honest and open in its aims
and methods ii is spread ont to the
light and air. But in the Pitcher Plant
a curious development has taken place
The edges of the leaves have curved
met, and grown together, and the re-
sultant is tube. In our Pitcher Plant
these tubular leaves are oDen, the top
protected only by a hood-in other
species there is at the summit of the
leaf a lid, whose purpose apparently
is to keep out rain water. The object
OF this curious leaf-form is readily ap-
parent-ft is trap In the first place a
honeyed secretion eXudes from the top
or lip of the tube. The interior sur
face seems TO be divided into four
zones. On the first one, that nearest
the mouth of the pitcher, is a large
number of rigid hairs which point
downward The second zone is charac-
teriZed by the fact that the surface is
striated longitudinaly. The third divi-
sion is smooth. The fourth division is
the widest and is crowded with long
hairs, the points of which are all stout
or strong as those found near the mouth
of the pitcher.
1t is evident that here is a Verita Bile
honey entices the flies
ana ants, the sloping hairs speed them
upon their downward way to the hot
tom of the tube and effectually prevent
their return. At the bottom of the tube
a MUD is almost universally present
Careful observations have established
that this fluid is real secretion of the
plant, although it is often diluted with