SUNDEW 15 



the leaf are able to digest the flies, just as food is digested by gastric 

 juices in the stomach. 



The Sundew is not a tall plant, having long-stalked, rounded leaves 

 (as broad as long, hence the second Latin name), fringed with 

 glands and tentacles. The general shape is spoon-shaped. The 

 racemose flower-stalks, with flowers all turned one way, are more or 

 less erect. The flower-stalk is without leaves. The flowers are small 



SUNDEW (Drosera rotundifalia , L.) 



Photo. J. H. Crabtree 



and white, only opening in sunshine. In the autumn stoles with bulbs 

 are put forth. 



This " plant-animal " is about 6 in. high. The flowers bloom in 

 July and August. It is perennial. The flowers are cleistogamic. The 

 stamens are numerous, and united with the petals, which do not fall. 

 The anthers open outwards, and cross -pollination is thereby en- 

 couraged. The flowers are in two series. The styles are bent 

 inwards, and the stigmas are club-shaped. The anthers and stigmas 

 ripen together. Insects, usually flies, are attracted to the glandular 

 leaves, and imprisoned and slowly digested, and pollination may be 

 assisted by the miscarriage of such efforts to utilize insect prisoners 

 for food by their being attracted instead to the flowers. 



The capsule splitting opposite each loculus allows the seeds to be 

 dispersed to some distance around the parent plant. 



