67i 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



Insect-Catching Plants 



WILLARD N. CLUTE 



IT has frequently been said that the real rulers of this 

 planet are insects, and there is much truth in the state- 

 ment. Insect pests are everywhere. They injure 

 our crops when growing, and again after they are har- 

 vested ; they bring diseases to our domestic animals ; they 

 destroy our clothing and our furnishings; and swarm in 

 every part of the earth. 



So fond of the vegetation are the insects, that it is a 

 wonder that certain forms of plants have survived at all. 

 It does not seem possible, for instance, that the potato 

 plant and the potato beetle could have originated in the 

 same region. As a matter of fact, they did not. The 

 survival of our familiar tuber-bearing plant is largely a 

 matter of good luck, due to its beginning life in a region 

 far removed from its most dangerous enemy. There are 

 other plants, however, that are less vulnerable ; in fact, 

 some have developed most interesting devices for pro- 

 tecting themselves from attack. The heavy coating of 

 hairs which cover the stems and the leaves of many species 

 acts, in a large measure, to protect them from soft bodied 

 insects, and the production of nauseous or poisonous sub- 

 stances in the plant may also serve in this capacity. In 

 all probability the stinging hairs of nettles and similar 

 plants protect them from insects. Certainly they protect 

 the plants from larger animals. Regarding the poisonous 

 species, however, it may be said that even these have their 

 msect enemies. The tobacco worm, for instance, does not 

 find chewing tobacco bad for its health ! 



In the tropics tables and their contents are often pro- 

 tected from creeping insects by placing each table leg in 

 .a saucer of water. The idea, however, seems to have 

 originated with the teasels some millions of years ago. 

 These plants have opposite leaves whose bases join to- 

 gether in such a way as to form little cisterns around the 

 .stems and these, filled with rain water, bar all comers. 

 The catch-flies solve the problem in a different manner, 

 being equipped with sticky zones on the stems between 

 each pair of leaves. Any small insect which dares to ven- 

 ture out on these tiny vegetable quagmires is lost. 



Not all plants capable of catching insects are content 

 with mere capture. ]Many of them use the insects as 

 food and, in so doing, completely turn the tables on the 

 insect world by becoming the devourers instead of the 

 devoured. The butterwort is one of the simplest of such 

 plants. In this group the stem and leaves are covered 

 with a slimy substance which is able to digest any small 

 insects which may blunder into it. The flowers are often 

 large and showy, but the stems are so slimy that in pick- 

 ing them one is likely to feel that he is disturbing the 

 plant at its meal. 



Prcbablv the best known instance of insect-catching 

 plants are found among the sundews, a genus of plant? 

 inhabiting cool bogs in the Northern Hemisphere. The 

 tinv, round leaves of the common species are thickly set 

 with reddish hairs, each of which bears a drop of glisten- 

 ing dewlike material at its tip. The incautious insect 

 which stops to investigate the secretion finds itself stuck 

 fast. In a few minutes the leaf begins to fold over its 

 prisoner,- a digestive juice is poured out, and in this im- 

 promptu stomach the insect soon becomes digested. A 

 cousin to the sundew, known as the Venus fly-trap, does 

 not have to depend upon a sticky substance to catch its 

 prey, but has a leaf whose parts close so quickly that few 

 insects escajie, if thev once f-dl into llie lr;ip. 



The teasel cisterns seem designed only for protection, 

 but the hollow leaves of the pitcher plant are adapted for 

 drowning small insects and then digesting them. Some 

 species even have a line of nectar, leading up to the tip of 

 the pitcher, where the insects fall in. They are accused 

 of mixing an intoxicating substance with the nectar to 

 confuse their victims, a trick not unknown to more highly 

 organized beings. Our native species, like the sundews, 

 live in cold bogs, but the tropical forms are epiphytes and 

 thrive on the branches of trees, high above the ground. 



In muddy pools one may find representatives of still 

 another group of insect-catchers. These are the bladder- 

 worts, which bear great numbers of tiny bladders, each 

 equipped with a door which opens inward. Small water 

 insects push into the bladders to escape their enemies, only 

 to find the door closed when they wish to retreat and their 

 struggles fasten the door more firmly. 



The list of traps employed by flowers to secure pollina- 

 tion is too long for inclusion here. In all cases they are 

 designed to arrest the insect only long enough to dust it 

 with pollen, but some of the traps have become over- 

 specialized, as it were, and may hold their prisoners until 

 they starve to death. The comtnon milk weed is an old 

 oftender. Its pollen is gathered in small masses, attached 

 to a sticky disc which is intended to cling to an insect's 

 leg. Often the disc and the pollen fail lo come out of the 

 pocket in which they are set, and instead of being carried 

 away to another flower hold the insect firm. Any milk 

 weed patch will yield evidence of this nature. 



A relative of the milk weed, known as the "cruel plant," 

 has an arrangement something like an old fashioned boot- 

 jack just above the nectar. The insect easily pushes its 

 tongue down to the nectar, but when it attempts to with- 

 draw it frequently slips into a V-shaped notch. The 

 harder it struggles the more securely it is held. The 

 common dog-bane has a similar trap and unintentionally 

 catches many insects. Some of these prisoners in their 

 eft'orts to escape actually pull their own heads off. 



SUCCESS 



It's doing your job the best you can 



And being just to your fellow-man ; 



It's making money, but holding friends. 



And staying true to your aitns and ends ; 



It's figuring how and learning why. 



And looking forward and thinking high, 



And dreaming a little and doing much : 



It's keeping always in closest touch 



With what is finest in word and deed : 



It's being thorough, yet making speed : 



It's daring blithely the field of chance 



While making labor a brave romance : 



It's going onward despite defeat 



.And fighting staunchly, but keeping sweet ; 



It's Iteing clean and it's playing fair: 



It's laughing lightly at Dame Despair : 



It's looking up at the stars above. 



And drinking deeply of life and love : 



It's struggling- on with the will to win. 



Rut taking loss with a cheerful grin : 



It's sharing sorrow, and work, and mirth, 



.\nd making better this good old earth : 



It's serving, striving through strain and stress, 



It's doing vour noblest — that's Success. 



—The Rambler 



