

THE SINS OF THE SUNDEW. 



Prickly and pulpcus and blistering and blue. 

 Livid and starred with a lurid dew. 



— Shelley : "'The Sensitive Plant.' 



It is often the case with lovers of the 

 marvelous in nature, as in other lines, 

 that they stretch eagerly toward objects 

 which are foreign or alien to their own 

 environments, neglecting in their admir- 

 ation of the unattainable, some wonder- 

 ful production that is close at hand, but 

 overlooked in consequence. This is 

 quite apt to be the case with the nature 

 student, be he scientific or a mere un- 

 technical lover of the plant world. How 

 eagerly and with what zest we absorb 

 all details pertaining to those wonderful 

 productions of the tropics : of the marvel- 

 ous blossoms, butterflies and birds, par- 

 ticularly of those exaggerated specimens 

 if one may so term them. Of the great., 

 gorgeous king butterfly | Morpho cypris ) 

 of South America whose rich coloring is 

 enhanced by his chameleon-like powers 

 of changing his skin or colors, from a 

 vivid peacock green to a rich plum, and 

 from that to a flame-like pink, thence 

 back to his original regal tint, and who. 

 it is said, can be distinctly seen at the 

 distance of half a mile. We gaze in ar- 

 tistic rapture at the multitude of richly 

 plumaged birds that are sent to us from 

 "India's coral strand.'"'' peopling, in our 

 mind's eye, seme tiger infested jungle 

 with their dazzling colors. We wander 

 in rapture through some botanical collec- 

 tion of rare importations, of which trav- 

 elers have related various wonderful 

 tales in regard to their numerous devel- 

 opments, artistic or instinctive, as, for in- 

 stance, the Nepenthes of the East In- 

 dies, whose dainty, A'ari-colored pitchers. 

 swinging gracefully from their yard long 

 tendrils, beguile unwary insects to their 

 destruction in the liquid, narcotic depths, 

 where by the aid of digestive fluids thev 

 convert their victims into a sort of soup, 

 the nutriment of which the plant rapidlv 

 absorbs into its svstem. 



In becoming interested in these won- 

 derful productions of an unfamiliar 

 country, we neglect to observe from our 

 own door step, as it were, those creations 

 just as amazing, and perhaps even more 

 so, because of the greater minuteness of 

 detail but as wonderful and beautiful in 

 their intricacy of arrangement as the most 

 magnificent blossoms of "all the Asias." 



It is, to a certain extent, true that 

 among our plant neighbors there is lack- 

 ing that luxuriant brilliancy of color that 

 is so noticeable in tropical productions, 

 which seem to feel it a matter of neces- 

 sity that they should adorn themselves in 

 rainbow luxuriance of tint to sufficiently 

 advertise their wares to the public, a dis- 

 bursement of which is as vital a necessity 

 in the economics of plant life as in our 

 own so called administration of civiliza- 

 tion. 



Even our insignificant little chick- 

 weed, a familiar dweller in every garden 

 and foot-path way in the United States 

 and for which we see no use save as a 

 refreshing salad for imprisoned canaries, 

 is as keen in the interests of the propa- 

 gation of its kind as the most gorgeous 

 production of the universe, and draws 

 insect attention by many artful wiles to 

 its honey product beloved by bees, there- 

 by impelling that class of visitors to car- 

 ry from stamen to stigma that fecundat- 

 ing dust so necessary for the fruition of 

 the little star-like flowers, and for which 

 service they so hospitably entertain the 

 winged host, appealing to them for an 

 exchange of benefits as assiduously as 

 those luxuriant flowers of the lands of 

 the tropical sun. 



But perhaps these children of the soil, 

 which to our own limited powers of 

 comprehension seem the most inscru- 

 table, and with which most of us 

 are less familiar, there are none more 



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