THE LEAF 



191 



becomes the aggressor, and instead of standing on the defen- 

 sive or suffering itself to be quietly devoured, proceeds to 

 capture and devour small game on its own account, and in 

 this case, the leaf sometimes becomes a deadly weapon of 

 destruction. 



209. Pitcher plants. — The sarracenia, or trumpet leaf, 

 is a familiar example of this class. The lower part of the 

 leaf blade is transformed 

 into a hollow vessel for 

 holding water, and the 

 top is rounded into a 

 broad flap called the 

 lamina. Sometimes the 

 lamina stands erect, as 

 in the common yellow 

 trumpets of our coast 

 regions, and when this is 

 the case, it is brilliantly 

 colored and attracts in- 

 sects (Fig. 259). Some- 

 times, as in the parrot- 

 beaked and the spotted 

 trumpet leaf, it is bent 

 over the top of the water 

 vessel like a lid, and the 

 back of the leaf, near the foot of the lamina, is dotted with 

 transparent specks that serve to decoy foolish flies away 

 from the true opening and tempt them to wear themselves 

 out in futile efforts to escape, as we often see them do against 

 a window pane. 



If the contents of one of these leaves are examined with a 

 lens, there will generally be found mixed with the water at the 

 bottom the remains of the bodies of a large number of in- 

 sects. The hairs on the outside all point up, toward the 

 rim of the pitcher, while those on the inside turn down, 

 thus smoothing the way to destruction, but making return 





Fig. 259. — Yellow trumpets (Sarniccnia flava). 

 {From the Mo. Botanical Garden Rcp't.) 



