>Jan - As our resident plant name etymologist, do you have any ideas on how
>S. purpurea got this name? Maybe I just don't really know what a
>side-saddle looks like, but I fail to see the resemblance. Is it the
>pitcher or the flower that's supposed to bear a resemblance to the saddle?
Well, we have to dig quite a hole into the mountain of literature in order
to find an answer. But here it is:
G.S.BOULGER writes (in Gard.Chron.2.Ser.15:627, 1881):
"It is from the flower that _Sarracenia_ obtains the fanciful name of
Side-saddle Flower, _Darlingtonia_ being very similar (...) the
five-chambered ovary surmounted by a remarkable umbrella-shaped style,
beneath the lobes of which are five small stigmas. This dull-coloured leafy
organ seems to have suggested a comparison with the flaps of a Spanish
saddle."
Surprisingly, _Darlingtonia_ (which has a rather different style, not
really "very similar" to that of _Sarracenia_) is also sometimes called
"side-saddle". Here we can obviously observe a shift of meanings and names.
Kind regards
Jan