Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 147 



SUNDEW FAMILY (Droseraceae). 



A small family of insectivorous plants found in 

 bogs or moist sandy soil. 



THREAD-LEAVED SUNDEW (Drosera filiformis) 

 has long, linear, film-like, erect, very hairy leaves. 

 The flowers are numerous and loosely racemed at the 

 top of a slender smooth scape; they have five, small, 

 purple petals, five stamens and several 2-parted stig- 

 mas. The flowers open only in the sunshine and 

 bloom towards the top of the scape, where a number 

 of undeveloped buds droop. This species is found in 

 wet sandy soil from New England to Delaware, not 

 far from the coast. 



ROUND-LEAVED SUNDEW (Drosera rotundifolia) 

 is one of the most common of the Sundews; it is 

 found in moist, sandy or peaty soil from Labrador to 

 Alaska and south to Pa. and Cal. The leaves are 

 numerous, quite round, and on long stems from the 

 root. The leaves are thickly covered with hairy 

 glands, that exude drops of a clear glutinous fluid, 

 glistening in the sunlight like little drops of dew; it 

 is from these that the plant is named. These dew- 

 like drops deceive insects into alighting on the leaves, 

 when they discover, to their dismay, that they are 

 held fast prisoners in the sticky fluid. Having caught 

 a victim, the leaf slowly folds about it and more slow- 

 ly digests it. 



The flower stalk of this species grows from 5 to 9 

 in. high, is reddish colored and often has one or two 

 branches at the top. The one to twenty five flowers 

 that it has during the flowering season are white. 

 They open but one or two at a time, and only in bright 

 sunshine. The leaves, and also the short rootstalk, 

 have rather purplish juices that stain what they come 

 in contact with. While they are small and inconspic- 

 uous, one will find it well worth while to study these 

 plants. 



