218 BOTANY. 



120, P) which act as traps from which the animals cannot 

 escape after being captured. There does not appear to be 

 here any actual digestion, but simply an absorption of the 

 products of decomposition, as in the pitcher-plant. In the 

 nearly related land form, Pinguicula, however, there is much 

 the same arrangement as in the sundew. 



The family Gesneracece is mainly a tropical one, repre- 

 sented in the greenhouses by the magnificent Gloxinia and 

 Achimenes, but of native plants there are only a few parasitic 

 forms destitute of chlorophyll and with small, inconspicuous 

 flowers. The commonest of these is Epiphegus, a much- 

 branched, brownish plant, common in autumn about the roots 

 of beech-trees upon which it is parasitic, and whence it derives 

 its common name, "beech-drops." 



The bignonia family (Bignoniacece) is mainly tropical, but 

 in our southern states is represented by the showy trumpet- 

 creeper (Tecoma) (Fig. 121, A), the catalpa, and Martynia. 



The other plants likely to be met with by the student 

 belong either to the Verbenacece, represented by the showy 

 verbenas of the gardens, and our much less showy wild ver- 

 vains, also belonging to the genus Verbena (Fig. 121, E) ; 

 or to the plantain family (Plantaginece) , of which the various 

 species of plantain (Plantago) are familiar to every one (Fig. 



121, G, I). The latter seem to be forms in which the flowers 

 have become inconspicuous, and are wind fertilized, while 

 probably all of its showy-flowered relatives are dependent on 

 insects for fertilization. 



The third order (Contortce) of the Anisocarpce includes five 

 families, all represented by familiar forms. The first, the olive 

 family (0/eaceee), besides the olive, contains the lilac and 

 jasmine among cultivated plants, and the various species of 

 ash (Fraxinus), and the pretty fringe-tree (Chionanthus) (Fig. 



122, A) } often cultivated for its abundant white flowers. The 

 other families are the Gentianacece including the true gentians 

 (Gentiana) (Fig. 122, F), the buck-bean (Menyanthes) , the 



