SUNDEW FAMILY. Droseraceas. 



SUNDEW FAMILY. Droseracece. 



Bog plants with sticky-hairy leav^es whicli are coated 

 with a fluid designed to attract and retain insects — they 

 are, in fact, carnivorous. The small flowers are perfect, 

 with five petals, and few or many stamens, with the an- 

 thers turned outward. Fruit a 1-5-celled capsule. The 

 tiny red filaments of the leaves curl and clasp about a 

 captured insect, and ultimately its juices are absorbed. 



A t^ery small plant with long-stemmed 

 Sundew round leaves Ij^ing close to or ujjon the 



Drosera ground, both leaf and stem covered with 



rotundifoiia long, fine, red hairs. The red flower-stem 

 ^•^'^^ is erect and smooth, and bears about four 



u y- ugus ^^. ^.^ small white flowers, which are fre- 

 quently visited by the fungous gnats and other small 

 woodland insects. The flower-cluster is one-sided, bends 

 over, and the blossoms open one at a time only in the 

 sunshine. The glands of the leaves exude clear drops of 

 fluid, which appear like small dewdrops ; hence the 

 popular name, also the Greek dpo6sfj6s, meaning dewy. 

 The whole plant is so sat-tirated with color that its sap 

 stains paper a ruddj- madder purple. 4-9 inches high. 

 In bogs, from Me. , south, and west to the Daks. 

 Lon2= leaved ^^ very similar species, but with elon- 



Sundew gated blunt- tipped leaves whose stems are 



Drosera inter- long and rather erect. Differing further 

 media, var. from the preceding species bv the naked 

 Americana ^ n . ^i t i • " • i 



leaf-stems, the red hairs appearing only 



upon the little leaves. It is not so common as the other 

 species, but occupies about the same territory. 

 Slender ^ western species with 3-inch long, slen- 



Sundew der or linear leaves, also with naked, erect 



Di'osera stems. The white flowers are few. Shores 



linearis ^j l^s^^e^ Superior and Huron. 



„. ._. The leaves of this larger species are re- 



Sundew duced to a mere threadlike shape with no 



Drosera distinct stem ; they are glandular, red 



filiformis hairy throughout, the hairs terminated by 



Purple- ^ j.g^ ^^^^ ^j. ^^^ rj^i^g flowers are fully ^ 



inch broad, and dull purple - magenta. 



178 



