HIGHER PLANTS 



come entrapped and die. The struggles of these captured 

 insects stimulate the glandular hairs to secrete the fluid, and 

 the more they struggle the better the plant can hold them. 

 The leaves of any lusty sundew are covered with shriveled 

 insects whose juices the plant is slowly consuming. 



The round-leaved sundew (Fig. 79) grows in a rosette about 

 2 to 3 inches high, its 5-petaled white flowers rising only a little 

 above the leaves. This is the commonest species but others 

 ./'^Irequently found are the oblong-leaved sundew which has a 

 leaf 6 to 8 times as long as it is broad, the still narrower thread - 

 leaved and slender-leaved sundews. All of the sundews are 

 bog plants, trapping their insect food upon sticky hairs. 



Occurrence. — The round-leaved sundew grows in spring-fed 

 calcareous bogs. Blooms in July. Generally distributed from 

 abrador, southwest to Florida and California including the 

 Atlantic Coastal Plain. 



Water Milfoils — Haloragidacece 



Mare's-tail, joint weed, Hippuris vulgaris. — Mare's-tail 

 (Fig. 80) is a perennial aquatic plant which grows on damp 

 shores or in shallows above which its stout plant stem pro- 

 jects for several inches. It is easily recognized by its whorls 

 of 6 to 12 ^^tiff, stringy leaves. Above the water they are 

 short and stand out stiffly from the stem but beneath it they 

 grow long, flaccid, and drooping. Its minute flowers are ar- 

 ranged in a circlet around the stem at the ba^se of the leaves. 



Occurrence. — In ponds and quiet streams, especially in limy 

 or salty waters. Labrador southwest through New England, 

 New York, Minnesota, Nebraska, California. 



Water milfoil, Myriophyllum spicatum. — Ferny milfoil gar- 

 dens are commonly found in slow streams and shallow ponds. 

 Milfoils (Fig. 81) are rooted to the bottom but their long 

 graceful branches reach nearly to the surface and their deep 

 purple staminate flowers project above it. There are several 

 species all of which have finely divided leaves. 



99 



