CARNIVOROUS PLANTS 



355 



it, till the insect is more or less enclosed, when it is digested as 

 mentioned above. 



The digestion of an insect and the absorption of nutrient matter 

 by the cells of the leaf occupy from twenty to thirty hours, and 

 when the whole is accomplished the leaf slowly expands, assuming 

 its normal position, and exposing the indigestible residue of its prey 

 to be blown away or washed off 

 by the rain. 



]t has been observed that the 

 Butterworts are not exclusively 

 animal feeders, for their leaves 

 readily digest any pollen cells or 

 the sj3ores of the lower plants that 

 are carried to them by the wind. 



Equally interesting are the 

 habits of the Sundew (Drosera), of 

 which there are three species, all 

 readily distinguished from every 

 other British plant by the glandular 

 hairs that cover the long-stalked, 

 radical leaves. They have leaf- 

 less flower-stalks, each bearing a 

 one-sided spike or raceme of white 

 flowers. The sepals, petals, and 

 stamens each number five ; and 

 the ovary, which ripens into a 

 one-celled capsule of three or four 

 valves, has three or four forked 

 styles. 



The commonest species — the 

 Round - leaved Sundew (Drosera 

 rotundifolia) — is abundant and 



widely distributed, and may be seen among the bog-mosses, some- 

 times almost completely covering rather large patches of marsh- 

 land. Its leaves are round, from a quarter of an inch to near 

 half an inch in diameter, spreading in such a manner that they 

 lie close to or near the ground. The flower-stems are slender, 

 erect, from three to six inches long ; and the white flowers, 

 which are in a one-sided raceme, bloom during July and August. 



The Long-leaved Sundew (i>. longifolia or D. intermedia) has 

 oval leaves, tapering gradually into the stalk. They are more erect 



AA 2 



The round-leaved Sundew. 



