Berberalfs.] 



DROSERACE.E. 



433 



Order CLVII. DROSERACE^. Sundews. 



Droseraceae, DC. Thcorie, 214. (1819); Prodr. 1. 317. (1824); Endl. Gen. clxxxix.; Meisr.er, p. 22. 



Diagnosis. — Berheral Exogeiis, with regular symmetrical floivers, parietal placentce, and 

 stamens alternate %oith the petals, or twice as many. 

 Delicate herbaceous plants, often covered with glands. Leaves alternate, with stipu- 

 lary fringes and a circinate vernation. Pedmicles, when young, circinate. Sepals 5, 

 persistent, equal, with an imbricated testivation. Petals 5, hypogynous, imbricated. 

 Stamens distinct, withering, 

 either equal in number to the 

 petals and alternate with 

 them, or 2, 3, or 4 times as 

 many. Ovary single ; styles 

 3-5, either wholly distinct, or 

 slightly connected at the base, 

 bifid or branched. Ovules 

 00, parietal, or attached to a 

 placenta at the base, anatro- 

 pal . Capsule of 3 or 5 valves, 

 which bear the placentae 

 either in the middle or at 

 their base, and sometimes 

 turn in their edges so as to 

 form almost perfect dissepi- 

 ments. Seeds either naked 

 or furnished with an aril. 

 Embryo minute, in the base 

 of fleshy albumen. 



These plants are gene- 

 rally supposed to be nearly 

 allied to Violetworts, from 

 which theii' circinate ver- 

 nation, several styles, and ex- 

 stipulate leaves, distuiguish 

 them. They are also no 

 doubt related to Tutsans, 

 among which Parnassia 

 accords with Sundews. 

 Rock-roses (Cistacese) are 

 also named as approaching 

 Sundews, and so are Turner- 

 ads, the parietal placentation of these Orders having 

 led to the comparison. But if we regard the minute em- 

 bryo and copious albumen of Sundews as the first point 

 of importance in theii' stmcture, then they must be i*c- 

 moved from immediate relation to all the Orders already 

 mentioned, and will fall into either the Berberal or 

 Fig. CCCII. Erical Alliance. They will correspond with the former 



in the number of parts in their ovary not agreeing with that of the surrounding parts, and 

 with Fumeworts in their parietal placentation ; on the other hand they will claim affinity 

 with Ericals in theh* general appearance. Aldrovanda, a water plant, inhabiting the 

 ditches in the South of Europe, is remarkable for its whorled, cellular, shell-like leaves. 



At the Cape of Good Hope, in South America, North America, New Holland, China, 

 Europe, Madagascar, the East Indies, wherever there are marshes or morasses, these 

 plants are found. Drosophyllum lusitanicum gi'ows on the barren sands of Portugal. 



The common Droseras are rather acid, slightly acrid, and according to some, poison- 

 ous to cattle. The Drosera communis of Brazil is said by A. de St. Hilaire to be poison- 

 ous to sheep. Drosera lunata has viscid leaves ^^•ith glandular fringes, which close upon 



Fig. CCCII.— Dionsea muscipula. 1. its pistil ; 2. a sectional view of it showing the placentae ; 3. a 

 seed : 4. the same without its cnistaceous skin, and opened so as to show the emhryo. 



Fig. CCCIII.— Drosera longifolia. 1. a flower ; 2. a perpendicular section of the ovary ; 3. a perpen- 

 dicular section of a seed. 



F F 



Fig. CCCIII. 



