2o8 PITCHER-PLANT FAMILY. 



often greenish, while the umbrella-shaped style is yellow. It and Sarrace^ 

 nia flava are the two most likely to be found two-thirds filled with water. 



THE SUNDEW FAMILY. 



Di'osei'dcea:. 



Insectivorous herbs, exuding a viscid substance from the glandular 

 hairs which clothe the leaves, which are basal; or, in Dioncea, a glabrous 

 herb with broadly wi?tged petioles and bristle-frifiged, sensitive leaf-blades; 

 their flo2vers being produced o?i a high, smooth scape, in either racemes or 

 umbel-like cyjjies. 



VENUS'S FLY=TRAP. {Plate LXII.) 

 Dioncea inuscipula. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Sundezv. M'liite. Scentless. Wibiiington^ No7'th Carolina Aj»-iljune. 



and adjacent territory. 



Floivers : growing on a long, smooth scape in a flat-topped umbel-like cyme; 

 their pedicels being bracted at iheir bases. C(7/yx : persistent; of five slender 

 segments. Corolla: of five, obcoi date petals. Stamens: ten to fifteen. Pistil: 

 one; stigma, fringed and lobed. Leaz'fs : from the base, with a long winged 

 petiole, oblanceolate in outline and terminating in a broadly rounded, trap-like 

 sensitive blade, fringed with stiff bristles and either green, or crimson on the 

 upper surface. 



To see the Venus's fly-trap catch its prey is a tragedy of the plant world, 

 equal in value to the mythological story of the old man of the 

 fountain who swallowed the children. It is only when the sun shines upon 

 the leaves that they open widely their terminal traps and flaunt their brilliant 

 linings to attract the insect's attention. The few inner bristles are very 

 sensitive, and as the little creatures alight and brush against them, the trap 

 quickly closes and holds the intruder fast. A secretion from its surface 

 then prepares the insect for digestion, and not until the products are ab- 

 sorbed does the trap again open to entice another victim. 



For a long time this plant has been regarded as a wonder and as such is 

 treasured in greenhouses. It is now, however, becoming very scarce. 

 About Wilmington, North Carolina, where once it was not unusual to meet 

 with it frequently in one's rambles, one may now walk miles and still search 

 assiduously the wood's swampy places without finding a trace of it. Only 

 those that know some one of its retired haunts can find it readily, and from 

 these it swiftly vanishes at the approach of civilisation. 



