434 



DROSERACEyE. 



[Hypogynous Exogens. 



flies and other insects that happen to alight upon them. It is probable it would yield a 

 valuable dye. It is also believed that some of the Swan River species of Drosera might 

 be turned to account in that way, for every part of D. gigantea stains paper of a brilliant 

 deep purple, and when fragments are treated with ammonia they yield a clear yellow. 

 The bulbs of D. erytliorhiza and stolonifera have similar dyeing qualities ; they have 

 been stated by Dr. Milligan to be eatable, but that is a mistake, according to Drum- 

 mond. The irritability of the glandular hairs which clothe the leaves is one of the pecu- 

 liar features of the Ordei-, and reaches its maximum in the curious genus Dionsea, 

 whose leaves, bordered by stiff teeth, and divided into two halves, are furnished on each 

 half with 3 minute bristles arranged in a triangle, which bristles are extremely irritable, 

 and when touched cause the two sides of the leaf to collapse with such considerable force, 

 that they cannot be separated again without employing violence : they, however, spon- 

 taneously open again in a short time. 



Drosera, Linn. 

 Rorella, Rupp. 

 Ros-Solis, Toum. 

 Escra, Neck. 



GENEKA. 



Aldrovanda, Monti. 

 Byblis, Salisb. 

 Drosophyllum, Link. 

 Dionaea, Ellis. 



Numbers. Gen. 7. Sp. 90. 



Roridula,£?HH. 



Iridion, Burm. 

 Sondera, Lehtn. 



Pyrolacece. 

 Position.— Fumariaceae. — DroseracEjE.- 



ViolacecB. 



Berberidaceie. 



See a memoir upon this Order by M. Planchon in the Ann. Sc. Nat. 3 ser. IX. 79. 

 This author reduces Sondera to Drosera. 



