226 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



Heath group. There are two, three, or five carpels, 

 which are united. The ovary is single and one- 

 to five-celled. The placentae are usually parietal. 

 There are one to five or six to eight styles, which 

 are long, simple, or divided into two. The stigmas 

 are simple or much branched. The ovules are three 

 to many. 



The capsule is loculicidal, two- to five-valved, one- 

 to five-celled. The seeds are numerous, with endo- 

 sperm. 



There are some foreign Sundews that are poison- 

 ous. It has been suggested that D. lunata might 

 produce a dye. The common Sundew described 

 here is acrid and caustic. Rossoli is distilled from 

 the juice in Italy. Milk is curdled by it, and it has 

 been regarded as a cure for warts and corns. 



Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia). 



This interesting plant is an example of an insecti- 

 vorous plant. In the British flora there are other 

 similar animal-devouring plants such as Butterwort, 

 Bladderwort, Toothworth, etc., but the Sundew is 

 perhaps the best example. Its insectivorous proper- 

 ties are more marked, and the operation is more 

 rapid in this case. On the leaves there are fine 

 reddish filaments which are club-shaped at the tip, 

 and bear glistening drops (hence Drosera, Sundew). 

 These stand out from the leaves, and are like the 

 glands in the Butterwort, being borne on the upper 



