LEAVES 



221 



There is the same sweetish secretion at the rim of the pitcher, 

 and the same accumulation of water within as in the ordinary 

 pitcher-plants. 



The " sundews " are forms of Drosera, and grow in swampy 

 regions, the leaves forming small rosettes upon the ground 

 (Fig. 189). In one form the blade is round, and the margin is 

 beset by prominent bristle-like hairs, each with a globular 



FIG. 190. Two leaves of a sundew: A, glandular hairs fully extended; B, half the 

 hairs bending inward, in position assumed when an insect has been captured. 

 After KERNER. 



gland at its tip (Fig. 190). Shorter gland-bearing hairs are 

 scattered also over the inner surface of the blade. All these 

 glands excrete a clear, sticky fluid, which clings to them like 

 dewdrops, and which, not being dissipated by sunlight, has 

 suggested the name sundew. If a small insect becomes en- 

 tangled in one of the sticky drops, the hair begins to curve in- 

 ward, and presently presses its victim down upon the surface 

 of the blade. In the case of a larger insect, several of the 

 marginal hairs may join together in holding it, or the whole 

 blade may become more or less rolled inward. 



