Common Name: PITCHER-PLANT FAMILY Habit: Perennial herb, generally from slender rhizome, short caudex, or stolon; carnivorous; roots poorly developed. Leaf: in basal rosette, prostrate to erect, each forming a tubular pitcher with fluid that digests captured prey by enzymes, bacteria, or other organisms, with stiff, reflexed hairs within. Inflorescence: scapose, flower generally 1. Flower: bisexual, radial, nodding; sepals 5 [4--6], generally free; petals 5 [0]; stamens many; pistil 1, ovary superior, chambers generally 5, incomplete above or not, placentas generally axile, style 1, 5-lobed, umbrella-like or not, stigma terminal or under tips of style lobes. Fruit: capsule, loculicidal; valves generally 5. Seed: many, flattened-ovoid, smooth, or club-like, papillate [winged]. Genera In Family: 3 genera, 24 species: northern California, Oregon, British Columbia, eastern North America, northern South America, especially acidic bogs, streamsides, moist areas; often planted outside native ranges by horticulturists but generally not invasive. eFlora Treatment Author: Barry A. Rice Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Etymology: (William Darlington, Philadelphia botanist, 1782--1863)
Darlingtonia californica Torr.
NATIVE Habit: Rhizomed; stolons +- 1 m. Leaf: nearly erect, 1--6(10) dm, green-yellow to deep red, enlarged upward; pitcher top opening underneath, tube with non-digestive fluids within; appendages yellow or green to purple. Inflorescence: < 1 m; scape bracts yellow. Flower: sepals 4--6 cm, oblong to oblanceolate, yellow-green, purple-tinged or not; petals 2--4 cm, narrowly ovate, yellow-green between wide, dark purple veins (variant lacking purple veins in Nevada Co.); stamens 12--15 in 1 whorl; ovary tip truncate or concave, style 2--3 mm, deeply 5-lobed, stigmas 5. Fruit: 2.5--4.5 cm, obovoid. Seed: +- 2 mm, papillate, light red-brown. Chromosomes: 2n=30. Ecology: Seeps, boggy places with running water, generally serpentine; Elevation: 60--2200 m. Bioregional Distribution: KR, NCoRO (introduced, Mendocino Co.), n SNH (c Plumas, Sierra, Nevada cos.); Distribution Outside California: western Oregon; planted elsewhere. Flowering Time: Apr--Jun Note: Pollinator the bee Andrena nigrihirta, possibly also an arachnid; digestion in leaves by bacteria, arthropods, not by plant enzymes. Pitcher resembling cobra with fangs or forked tongue. Synonyms: Chrysamphora californica (Torr.) Greene Jepson eFlora Author: Barry A. Rice Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Listed on CNPS Rare Plant Inventory Previous taxon: Darlingtonia Next taxon: Sarracenia
Jepson Video for Darlingtonia californica
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Botanical illustration including Darlingtonia californica
Citation for this treatment: Barry A. Rice 2012, Darlingtonia californica, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=22340, accessed on April 18, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 18, 2024.
Geographic subdivisions for Darlingtonia californica:
KR, NCoRO (introduced, Mendocino Co.), n SNH (c Plumas, Sierra, Nevada cos.)
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).
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