CALIFORNIAN PITCHER-PLANT—Darlingtonia Californica.
CALIFORNIAN PITCHER-PLANT—Darlingtonia Californica.
The fluid at the bottom of the well is secreted by the plant, and seems to have somewhat the action of a gastric juice in disintegrating the insects submerged in it. Many species of ants, flies, bees, hornets, grasshoppers, butterflies, moths, dragon-flies, beetles, etc., are to be found in the tube, sometimes filling it to a depth of two or three inches.
The disagreeableness of the vicinity of these plants can be imagined upon a hot day when the sun is shining "upon this sad abode of death" and all the air is tainted with their sickening odor.
The mountaineers call the plant "calf's-head," because of the large yellowish domes of the pitchers.
[To assist in the pronunciation of the Latin names, the accented syllable in each word is indicated by an accent mark. If this syllable ends in a vowel, the vowel has the long sound; but if it ends in a consonant, the vowel has a short sound. Either the English or the Continental sounds may be given the vowels, though the former are more generally authorized.]