234 THE SAXIFEAGE FAMIXT. 



ones decidedly perigynous. Styles 3 or 4, each divided into 2. Capsule 

 1-celled, opening into 3 or 4 valves, sometimes split into twice that number. 

 Seeds several, with albumen, inserted on 3 or 4 parietal placentas in the 

 centre of the valves. 



The Sundews are rather numerous in species, and found in nearly aE 

 parts of the globe where thei-e are bogs. The curious glandular hau-s of 

 the leaves distmguish them from all other British genera, independently of 

 their floral characters. Associated with a few exotic genera, all remarkable 

 for the same glandular hairs, but difiering chiefly in the number of stamens, 

 or of the valves of the capsule, or in the insertion of the ovules, they form 

 a distinct group, usually considered as an independent family among 

 Thalamiflores ; but the great majority of species have their flowers rather 

 perigynous than hyiDOgynous, and they appear much more naturally asso- 

 ciated with Saxifrages as a somewhat anomalous tribe of that family. 



Leaves obovate or orbicular, as broad as long 1- Common S. 



Leaves obovate-oWoug, three or four times as long as broad .... 2. Oblong S. 

 Leaves linear-spathulate, five or more times as long as broad .... 3. English S. 



1. Common Sundew. Drosera rotundifolia, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. u. 867 in the text, 868 on the plate.) 



Rootstock short and slender, the leaves on long stalks, nearly orbicular, 

 3 to near 6 hues in diameter, covered on the upper surface with long, red, 

 viscid hairs, each bearing a small gland at the top. Flower-stems slender, 

 erect, and glabrous, 2 or 3 to 5 or 6 inches high, the upper portion, con- 

 sisting of a simple or once-forked unilateral raceme, rolled back when young, 

 but straightening as the flowers expand. Pedicels nearly a hne long, with- 

 out bracts. Calyx near 2 hnes. Petals white, rather longer, expanding 

 in sunshme. Seeds spindle-shaped, pointed at both ends, the loose testa 

 several times longer than the small, ovoid albumen. 



In bogs, and wet, heathy ground, thi-onghout central and northern 

 Europe and Russian Asia; from northern Spain to the Arctic regions. 

 Abundant in all parts of Britain where there are considerable bogs. Fl. 

 summer and early autumn. 



2. Oblong SandeT7. Drosera lon^folia, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. n. 868 in the text, 867 on the plate.) 

 Distinguished from the common S. by the leaves much more erect, not 

 half so broad as long, and gradually tapering into the footstalk ; the flowering 

 stem is also usually shorter, and not so slender ; the styles less deeply 

 divided, and the seeds are ovoid or oblong ; the testa either close to the 

 albumen, and taking its form, or very shghtly prolonged at each end. 



In bogs, with the common S., but much less generally distributed both on 

 the contment of Europe and in Britain. Fl. summer and early autumn. 



3. English Sundew. Drosera anglica, Huds. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 869.) 



Very Uke the ollong S., but the leaves are still longer and narrower, 



often an inch long without the stalk, the flowers and capsule larger, and the 



testa of the seed is loose and elongated, as in the common S., but more 



obtuse at the ends. 



In bogs, apparently spread over the same geographical range as the two 

 other species, but being often confounded with the oblong S., of which it 

 may be a mere variety, its precise stations are not very clearly defined. In 



I 



