53 PRACTICAL BOTANY. 



Pitcher-shaped leaves are those of the Side-saddle 

 flower, or Sarracenia^ with the edges curved inward and 

 imited, forming a cavity which is usiiallj half full of 

 water. (PI. II., 9.) 



Leaves serving as fly-traps are to be seen in Dioncea, 

 or Yenus's Fly-trap. These bear at the summit an ap- 

 pendage, something like a steel-trap, which opens and 

 shuts, to catch flies. 



Bracts, not always sufficiently distinguishable from 

 scales or from leaves, are generally leaves of an in- 

 florescence. They often bear a striking resemblance to 

 ordinary leaves, as in the Linden (PI. lY., 6), but are 

 usually smaller. Properly speaking, the bract is the small 

 leaf (or scale), from the axil of which a flower or its 

 pedicel springs. Sometimes w^e call the upper leaves 

 bracts, since they support flowers, as in Melampyrum 

 Americanum. (PI. IX., 8.) The glumes and pales of the 

 grasses are bracts. The application of the terms bract 

 and scale is oftentimes discretional. Thus the involucre 

 of composites may be said to consist of empty bracts, or 

 of scales, and the use of either of these terais may here be 

 justified. 



Scales are poorly developed, membranous or fleshy, 

 leaf-like organs, and often of another color than green. 

 In some cases they are transformed leaves (in buds and 

 bulbs); in others they are modified bracts (in aments, 

 cones, etc.), or, again, they are appendages to the petals. 

 The small bracts (chaff) between the disk-flowers of Com- 

 posites are scale-like, and, therefore, often called scales, as 

 also are glumes and pales. 



Spathe is a bract, usually large, leaf-like, which inwraps 

 an inflorescence. (PI. 11., 25.) 



Tendril is a thread-like body, used for climbing, and 



