306 LENTIBULARIACEiE. 



Pcdicularis perrottctii Benth. ; F.B.I, iv 317, LII 36. 

 Remarkable for the very large white flowers, between 3 

 to 4 inches long : occurs at avalanche but not I think on 

 the higher levels, t. 202. Wight Ic. t. 1418. Bourne 

 5268. 



LENTIBULARIACE/E. 



Principal genus 



UTRICULARIA. f.b.i. 105 i. 



Bladderwort. 



Small herbs, growing in damp places or in water, and 



remarkable for having, on the much dissected submerged 



leaves, small bladders which trap and ultimately digest 



and absorb small animals. Flower-stem erect, slender, 



leafless. Calyx two-partite. Corolla of two lips, upper 



entire or emarginate, lower larger three to six-lobed, 



with a pointed, curved or straight spur below. Stamens 



two, with broad filaments. Style short, stigma of two, 



unequal lobes. Fruit a one-celled globose capsule, with 



many seeds on a basal placenta. 



A large genus of some 150 species scattered over the whole 

 world and in all climates ; in India from the plains of Madras 

 to the top of the Nilgiris, and at least 1,000 feet on the 

 Himalayas of Sikkim. 



This wide distribution is characteristic of marsh and water plants, and 

 is due in part to the comparative evenness of the conditions of life, with its 

 smaller ranges of temperature and less risk of dryness in the growing sea- 

 sons than is the case in dry situations. In Britain there are three species, 

 and three also of pinguicula, Butterwort, another genus of this family. 

 The Butterworts also feed to a small extent on animal life, by digesting the 

 flies which settle on their sticky leaves. So do a number of other plants, 

 which live in moist places, and it seems as if this is due to the difficulty 

 of getting sufficient nitrogen in an easily assimilable form ; perhaps 

 because such compounds of nitrogen are very soluble in water and readily 

 drain out of soil. 



Flowers blue U. coerulea. 



Flowers purple , U. racemosa. 



Flowers yellow U. wallichiana. 



