n OROBANCHACE^ — SCROPHULARIACE^ 305 



expressed their surprise that so many animalcules should 

 enter these traps and those of Utricularia, etc., but we 



Fig. 195.— Piece of the wall of a cavity. Fio. 196. — Plasmic threads radiating from 

 X 200. the cells of the little heads, x 540. 



must remember that they press into any small crevice 

 in search of food and shelter.^ 



SCEOPHULAEIACE^ 



The prevailing colours are yellow and red. In many 

 species they are different in different localities. The 

 flowers generally secrete nectar at the base of the ovary, 

 or in Pentstemon at the base of the stamens. Most of 

 the Verbascums, however, are without nectar. Some 

 species have opposite and some alternate leaves. The 

 latter have round stems. Among the former the stems of 

 some species of Scrophularia, Ehinanthus, Melampyrum, 

 Veronica, and Mimulus have quadrangular stems. 



Verbascum (Mullein) 



The flowers are yellow, white, or (rarely) purple. 

 They are in some species rendered more conspicuous by 

 the brightly coloured stamens. Most species have a 

 thick covering of woolly, sometimes branched hairs. 

 These probably serve three purposes. Firstly, they 

 protect the plant from grazing quadrupeds : they 

 would be unpleasant in the mouth, and probably in- 

 jurious in the stomach. Secondly, they prevent the 

 access of creeping insects ; and thirdly, they prevent 

 too rapid transpiration. 



' See also Praeger, Open-air StiuUes in Botany, p. 32. 



