The California Pitcher Plant is a wonder to behold. Darlingtonia californica is the one and only member of the genus Darlingtonia. As the name suggests it is native to California though in fact it grows in Oregon too. The Klamath-Siskiou region is its stronghold, particularly the slopes of Mount Eddy. It favours bogs, seeps, wet meadows. And... it's carnivorous.
 I was on a mission to find this plant as it seemed to symbolize the unique habitat of the area I had chosen to hike in. My first sighting was a few dozen of them growing alongside a stream that crossed the PCT. In the environs of Mount Eddy there were spectacular stands of D. californica growing en masse.
 The meadow in the photograph above (with Mount Shasta on the horizon) looks at first sight to be dotted with flowers but on closer inspection it is a teeming stand of Pitcher Plants...

 D. californica is one of those plants that can be considered a rarity but which grows abundantly in its niche habitat. This photo gives a sense of just how prolific it can be where it finds the right conditions. Interestingly it remains a mystery how the plant is pollinated but clearly it multiplies considerably.
 I know very little about carnivorous plants but as I understand it they compensate for lack of nitrogen in the soil by luring flies into them with a rancid smell. The flies become trapped by the fibrous hairs within the body of the plant and are dissolved by enzymes.
 Besides the resemblance to a pitcher D. californica has another common name: Cobra Lily.