Darlingtonia californica , also called the California pitcher plant, cobra lily, or cobra plant, is a species of carnivorous plant. It is the sole member of the genus Darlingtonia in the family Sarraceniaceae. This pitcher plant is native to Northern California and Oregon, US, growing in bogs and seeps with cold running water. This plant is designated as uncommon due to its rarity in the field.The Jepson Herbarium – University of California, Berkeley The name "cobra lily" stems from the resemblance of its tubular leaves to a rearing cobra, complete with a forked leaf – ranging from yellow to purplish-green – that resemble fangs or a serpent's tongue. The plant was discovered in 1841 by the botanist William D. Brackenridge at Mount Shasta. In 1853 it was described by John Torrey, who named the genus Darlingtonia after the Philadelphian botanist William Darlington (1782–1863). In cultivation in the UK this plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Darlingtonia californica has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens11
Marker genes5
GenBank sequences10
eDNA detections7
Countries2
The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★matK★rbcL7★rbcLa★ITS3★ITS2
plant barcodefungal barcode
06Genome at a glanceCCDB · GoaT · NCBI
The complete instruction manualDarlingtonia californica carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Genome size≈404 104 574 bp assembly estimate
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb
FUNGUS0.04 Gb
INSECT0.25 Gb
THIS GENOME Darlingtonia californica0.40 Gb
HUMAN3.2 Gb
WHEAT17 Gb
FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
Assembly levelScaffold
07Deep time~39.4 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin39.4 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type4 112 records
Wild obs. + sensor2 953
Museum / vouchered1 155
Cultivated / captive3
Other1
Origin
Native49
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO6 252 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy1% within 1 km
≤100 m 9≤1 km 11≤10 km 5>10 km 2 915
2 940 georeferenced · 13 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor2 953
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy54% within 1 km
≤100 m 23≤1 km 243≤10 km 208>10 km 16
490 georeferenced · 665 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 155
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Coordinate accuracy
no georeferenced coordinates · 3 records without
Open the mapnot free-living3
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions45 of 62 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Angwin, US
480
Corvallis, US
78
Claremont, US
68
Arcata, US
62
CASlocation not on record
53
Davis, US
47
Bronx, US
42
DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record
40
Chicago, US
35
Pullman, US
24
Santa Barbara, US
16
St. Paul, US
13
WTUlocation not on record
12
Riverside, US
7
Portland, US
7
US
7
Ashland, US
7
Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record
6
Severin-McDaniel Insect Collectionlocation not on record
5
STNFlocation not on record
5
San Luis Obispo, US
5
Saint Louis, US
4
Madison, US
4
San Jose, US
3
Pomona Collegelocation not on record
3
ASUlocation not on record
3
Flagstaff, US
3
Tacoma, US
2
Bend, US
2
Philadelphia, US
2
Tampa, US
2
Jena Microbial Resource Collectionlocation not on record
2
Portland, US
2
Walla Walla, US
2
Moscow, US
2
University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record
2
Caldwell, US
2
Boise, US
2
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
2
Bureau of Land Management, Medford District Officelocation not on record
2
KNFHClocation not on record
2
Logan, US
2
Los Angeles, US
2
Austin, US
2
Bloomington, US
2
Uniwersytet Jagiellońskilocation not on record
1
Bothell, US
1
Bangkok, TH
1
GB
1
US
1
Museo Achille Folettolocation not on record
1
Burlington, US
1
Fredericton Stock Culture Collectionlocation not on record
1
Denver, US
1
Vancouver, CA
1
Wuzhou, CN
1
University of British Columbia, Herbariumlocation not on record
1
Wellington, NZ
1
Phoenix, US
1
EL PASO, US
1
Edinburgh, GB
1
Fort Worth, US
1
62 institutions · 1 092 of 1 155 vouchered records shown · 63 without an institution code
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
09Environmental DNA7 detections
Where the DNA of Darlingtonia californica was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found7
Studies independent surveys1
Countries1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 7 detections have coordinates
Open the map1 country0
boggy areaswet forest
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median14.5 °C 14.5–14.5
Seasonal swing summer↔winter18.1 °C
Max temp (day)21.2 °C
Min temp (night)8.10 °C
Precipitation75.5 mm/mo
Air humidity56.7 %
Moisture balance-67.4 mm/mo
Vapour deficit716 Pa
Wind speed2.70 m/s
Cloud cover40.3 %
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 1 detection point · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation17 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility4 112 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI7 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics11 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗