LXXXV. DROSERACE^. 407 



PETALS 5, hypogynous, imbricate. STAMENS 5, or rarely more ; ANTHERS extrorse. 

 OVARY usually ] -celled, and with parietal placenta tion. CAPSULE with semi-placenti- 

 ferous valves. EMBRYO albuminous. 



HERBS, sometimes UNDERSHRUBS, stemless or caulescent, sprinkled and ciliated 

 with glandular tracheiferous hairs. LEAVES alternate, usually in a rosette, simple, 

 entire, or rarely cut, coiled from top to bottom before expansion [outwards or back- 

 wards in Drosophyllum, inwards or forwards in the other genera] ; blade contracted 

 into a petiole, sometimes jointed, with median nerve irritable, and the two halves of 

 the blade closing quickly at the least touch (Dioncea, p. 150) ; stipules 0, repre- 

 sented by hairs edging the dilated base of the petiole [or scarious] . FLOWERS ? , 

 regular, solitary, or in unilateral circinnate cymes [or subcorymbose] . CALYX of 5 

 sepals, free or almost free, imbricate. PETALS 5, hypogynous, or united at the base 

 with the sepals, shortly clawed, imbricate in bud, marcescent. STAMENS hypogynous 

 [or perigynous, rarely epipetalous] , sometimes equal and alternate with the petals ; 

 sometimes double (Dioncea, Drosophyllum) ; sometimes triple or quadruple (Dioncea}, 

 and then some opposite to the sepals singly, and the others opposite to the petals in 

 twos or threes ; filaments filiform, linear, free ; anthers extrorse, 2-celled, erect 

 (Dioncea, Drosera, Roridula), or incumbent and versatile (Drosophyllum, Byblis), 

 dehiscence longitudinal, or rarely apical (Byblis, Roridula}. OVARY free, sessile, 

 1 -celled, with 3-5 parietal placentas, sometimes united in one, basilar (Dioncea, 

 Drosophyllum) , rarely 2-celled (Byblis) or 3-celled (Roridula) ; styles as many as the 

 placentas, undivided or bifid or laciniate (Drosera), or coherent in a simple style 

 (Dionaia, Roridula, &c.) ; stigmas capitate, lobed or fringed ; ovules anatropous, usually 

 upright or ascending, rarely pendulous from the top of the cells in the 3-celled 

 ovaries (Roridula). CAPSULE sometimes 1-celled, opening throughout its length 

 into 3-5 semi-placentiferous valves, or at the top only, with a free basilar placenta 

 (Drosera, Aldrovanda, Drosophyllum, Dionaia) ; or 2-celled with 2 loculicidal valves, 

 bearing on the middle a seminiferous semi-septum (Byblis} ; or 3-celled with 3 loculi- 

 cidal semi-septiferous valves separated from the persistent seminiferous columella 

 (Roridula). SEEDS with a crustaceous granular or striate rarely loose and cellular 

 testa ; albumen fleshy. EMBRYO straight, axile or basilar ; cotyledons truncate ; 

 radicle very short, inferior or superior. 



GENERA. 

 Drosera. Drosophyllum. Aldrovanda. * Dionaea. Roridula. Byblis. 



Droseracetc, which are near Violariece in the usually parietal placentatiou, aestivation, insertion, 

 structure of the fruit and presence of albumen, are separated from them by habit, vernation, the absence 

 of stipules and extrorse anthers. With Frankeniacea they have somewhat analogous relations, together 

 with that of the extrorse anthers ; but in Frankeniaccee the calyx is tubular, and the leaves are opposite 

 or quaternary. Nepenthece and Snrracenicce have also some connection with Droseracece, founded on the 

 loculicidal capsule, the nature of the seeds, the albuminous embrvo, and the exceptional structure of the 

 leaves; but Nepenthece are dioecious (see these families). Parnassitice, which contain but a single genus, 

 have been annexed to Droseracece by many botanists, but they differ in habit, the petaloid glanduliferous 

 scales opposite to the petals, the sessile stigma and exalbuminous seed. 



Druseracece inhabit nearly all climates. Drosera are widely scattered, being especially frequent in 

 Australia, equatorial America and South Africa. They are met with in the turfy prairies of Europe and 



