THE BLADDKRWORT FAMILV 



469 



enter. More than one hundred and fifty species are recocrniscd, widely dis- 

 tributed, of which about twenty occur in the United States. 



U. infidta, swollen bladderwort.onc of the most curious of all. bears at 

 about the middle of its scape a whorl of leaves with swollen pcli<jlcs. whirh 

 are very finely dissected, as well as almost covered with bladders. It is thus 

 doubly provided with a means of moving over the waters of ponds where it 

 grows. From Florida to Maine it occurs, and mostly near the coast. 



YELLOW PINGUICULA. BUTTERWORT. {Plat,- CI.W) 

 J^iuguicula lidea. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



lU^iddi-yivort. Brisiht yclloiv. ScentU'ss. Florida and l.ouisiatui Ifl^i u.try-A />> il. 



to Xort/i Carol inn. 



Flowers: soHtary ; nodding, or ascending; growing at the end of a pubescent 

 scape from six to fourteen inches high. Calyx: parted into five oval pubescent 

 lobes. Corolla: funnel-form ; inflated and projecting backward a nectariferous 

 spur ; while somewhat two-lipped, the limb apparently divided into five, olwvate 

 lobes, deeply cleft at their apices, and veined in the throat with brown. Slamctts : 

 two. Leaves: small ; one to one and a half inches long growing in a rosette about 

 the base, ovate or oblong-obovate, usually pointed at the'apex, entire, with involute, 

 sensitive margins and covered on the upjjer surface with a viscid secretion. 

 Rools : fibrous. 



Raised sprightly on naked scapes and where the soil is moist we find 

 commonly through open pine-barrens the bright blossoms of the butterwort. 

 Here where it has made, among palms and grey moss, its natural selection, 

 it spreads also flatly on the ground its rosette of curious leaves. It avoids, so 

 it would seem, places overgrown with tall grasses or other verdure which 

 would prevent the sun and air from touching it and providing it with 

 nourishment. It also sustains its good condition in another way. The 

 leaves are very fat, greasy, in fact, to the touch, and by this greasiness small 

 insects are detained on their surface until the sensitive leaf-margins roll in- 

 ward and hold the intruder in the grim clutch of death. The prey thus 

 secured is then assimilated after the manner of most insectivorous plants. 



P. clatibr, which grows in swamps or along the margins of ponds from 

 Florida to North Carolina, bears a purple flower, often fading to white as it 

 matures. Its small leaves, tufted at the base of the scape, are spatulate ovate 

 and clammy pubescent. 



P. piiinila, a miniature species seen mostly in the moist, sandy soil of 

 Georgia and Florida, is known by its small, light violet or purple flowers and 

 tuft of roundod or obovate leaves lying at the baijc of the scape. 



