100 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



bearing as many as three very large flowers of a ros}- color ; some 

 are pure white, while purple varieties also occur. This beautiful 

 plant equals if it does not exceed any of the greenhouse kinds 

 which are cultivated with considerable expense. A new species 

 has been recently discovered in Washington Territor}-, and named 

 C. fasciculatam. But I must not dwell too long on my favorites, 

 but pass to a still more curious class, that of 



Insectivorous Plants. — This consists of onl}- a few plants, 

 characterized by a peculiar structure of their leaves which serves 

 to capture the insects. The leaves are either hollow, not unlike 

 a narrow pitcher, as in Sarracenia and Darliugtonia, or are fur- 

 nished with sensitive bristles serving that purpose, as in Diona?a 

 or Drosera. Many naturalists maintain that the captured insect 

 is digpsted by the secreted fluid, and serves as nourishment for 

 the plant. Yet if we examine the pitchers of Sarracenia, we shall 

 find that those filled with insects decay much sooner than those 

 that have few or none ; and again in the case of Dionaea, a leaf 

 that has captured a rather large insect seldom opens again, but 

 decays, while leaves that have not captured any or only small in- 

 sects will remain healthy the whole season. Again if a leaf be 

 selected and touched with some small object, it will close just the 

 same as if an insect had come in contact with it, and if that oper- 

 ation were to be repeated as soon as the leaf opened, and so kept 

 up for some time, the bristles and leaves would lose their sensi- 

 tiveness, and the leaf would not close in response to either stimu- 

 lus. All this shows that the plant cannot benefit by the insect ; 

 on the contrary the insect hurts it, by irritating the sensitive parts. 

 We cannot say that these plants were made to capture insects, but 

 only that they do capture them so because they have that peculiar 

 construction. However, as this is only a matter of opinion, 1 will 

 return to a brief descrii)tion of the several Insectivorous Plants. 



Vioncea muscipula, or Venus's Fly -Trap, has thick briglit green 

 leaves, terminated with appendages which are furnished with a 

 few bristles on the inner surlace ; when these are irritated the 

 leaves close suddenly and remain closed lor a time. Its rather 

 large white flowers are borne on stems from six to eight inches in 

 height. It grows in the pine barrens of North Carolina, and 

 should be treated in the same way as above recommended for 

 orchids. 



The Sarracenia, or Side-saddle Flower, is a showy and orna- 



