Drosera. LYTHRACEJE. L > ] ;] 



1. DROSERA, Linn. Sundew. 



Calyx 5-partcd, imbricated in the bud, persistent. Petals 5, mostly convolute in 

 the bud, withering-persistent. Stamens 5. Styles mostly 3, and each 2-parted, so 

 as to appear as G lililbrm or somewhat clavate ones, stigmatose down the inner side. 

 Capside oblong, 1-celled with 3 parietal placentas, 3-valved from the top, a placenta 

 on the middle of each valve. Seeds very numerous and small, anatropous, with a 

 small embryo at the base or in the axis of the fleshy albumen. — Low perennials or 

 biennials, of brownish or reddish rather than green hue; the herbage beset with 

 bristle-stalked glands which secrete a drop of clear and glairy liquid ; stipules a vil- 

 lous fringe at the base of the petiole; leaves inrollcd from the apex or the blade 

 inflexed in the bud, in ours all crowded in a rosulate tuft at the base of a naked 

 scape, which bears a unilateral scorpioid (apparent) raceme or spike; but the flowers 

 are not in the axils of the bracts. Flowers generally (in ours) white, each one open- 

 ing in the morning for a single day. 



Of the 100 species, or thereabout, only six or seven are North American, and half of these are 

 also European, two of them occurring rarely in California. The greater number are S. Australian. 

 All at least of the common species are insectivorous. For an account of their remarkable habits 

 and structure see Darwin, Insectivorous Plants, 1875. 



1. D. rotundifolia, Linn. Leaves spreading ; the blade rounded, 2 to 6 lines 

 in diameter, abruptly narrowed into the slender hairy or naked petiole : scape 3 to 

 G inches high, few-flowered : petals oblong, 2 lines long, a little exceeding the 

 oblong sepals : styles very short : capsule included in the calyx : seeds linear, with 

 a loose coat. 



In coM swamps in the Sierra Nevada (Brewer, Bolandcr, Lemmon,) ; Mendocino L'o. (Bolandi r) ; 

 and northward to the Arctic circle. On the Atlantic side of the continent it ranges southward to 

 Florida ; it is also found in Europe and Asia. 



2. D. Anglica, Hudson. Leaves ascending, cuneate-oblong, attenuate into the 

 slender naked petiole : scape 3 to G inches high, sometimes forked at the top, few- 

 flowered: petals linear-oblanceolate, 3 or -1 lines long, nearly twice longer than the 

 oblong sepals : capsule exceeding the calyx : see. Is linear, with a loose coat. 



Sierra County, Lemmon. Common in Europe and Siberia, but rarely collected in North 

 America, being reported only from the Northwest < 'east (i/i itzii j), British America (JticAai 

 and New full ml land. The mere frequent /'. inti rmedia, Hayne(the /'. loiigifolia of authors and at 

 least in part of Liumcus), is distinguished by the close rough seed-coat, rather smaller dowers, \< . 



Order XXXVI T. LYTHRACE^. 



Herbs (or in warm countries sometimes shrubs or trees), with simple and entire 

 leaves, calyx tubular or campanulate and free from the ovary and capsule but en- 

 closing it, the petals (often wanting) and definite stamens borne iii its throat, a 

 single style, numerous small anatropous seeds on a central placenta, and uo albumen. 

 Capsule generally becoming one-celled by the vanishing of thin partitions. No 

 stipules, and no translucent dots in the leaves. Distinguished from the two follow- 

 ing orders by the free ovary, from the first of them also l>\ the numerous seeds. 



An order of little consequence and feeble representation in temperate regions, especially in N. 

 America, the plants being mostly inert weeds. Sovi i I Mi nn and S. American species 

 pjtea are cultivated for ornament ; also the beautiful Cropc-Myrtlo, / •■ which is 



planted in tho Southern Atlantic States, and which would flourish in n largi pari of California. 

 Punica tjranatum, tho Pomegranate, has recently been n tarred to this order, instead ol ; 

 but its characters do not a. d witli either. 



