88 



ACADEMIC BOTANr. 



and the little creature is killed and digested at leisure. In tlie Pitcher- 

 Plant of Asia and Australia (Fig- 113) the 

 Midrib is first prolonged into a tendril, then 

 dilated into a pitcher with a lid hinged as no 

 human artificer could hinge it ; the pitcher 

 secretes an attractive liquor, refreshing to 

 man as well as other animals. A species of 

 shrimp sometimes takes possession of a low- 

 lying pitcher, and as the plant climhs she is 

 borne higher and higher from the ground, 

 passing her life in this aerial lakelet. The 

 Nepenthes also digests the insects which 

 enter its pitcher. The Sarracenia (Fig. 114) 

 has pitchers which are a transformation of the 

 petiole rieaf-stalk) ; the lid is the blade of the 

 leaf. Tnis plant is also insectivorous (insect- 

 eating) ; its pitchers do not distil a liquid, like 

 the Nepenthes ; they contain, however, a 

 small quantity of rain or dew ; they secrete an 

 alluring substance, and, like the Fly-Trap, 

 they have strong hairs which prevent the es- 

 cape of the insect which enters them. 



186. Leaves have a thousand uses. 

 From the thick, fleshy leaves of the 

 Century Plant (Fig. 115) the drink 

 called pulque is made. Leaves of 

 Palm, Mallow, and other plants 

 were the primitive writing mate- 

 rials as well as articles of clothing of 

 the human race. Virgil speaks of 

 the Sibyl who wrote her oracles on 

 dry leaves which the winds scat- 

 tered. Hence the same word is' used 

 for the leaf of a tree and that of a book in nesSrly all languages. The 

 palm-leaf is used for thatch, fans, umbrellas, sails, curtains; its strong 

 fibre serves for the stout rope or the finest woven fabric. New Zealand 

 flax is the leaf-fibre of a lily (Phormium) ; Manilla cordage is made 

 from the leaf-fibre of the Banana. The flat, round leaves of the common 

 Water-Lily {^Nymphcea) serve as table-cloths in India ; the bowl-shaped 

 leaves of its sister, the Lotus-Lily (Fig. 79), serve as dishes ; these leaves 

 are used for one meal, and then cast aside by the cleanly Hindoos. "We 

 have but to mention salads to show how many leaves serve as food. 



187. The Petiole is sometimes transformed into a leafy shape, called 

 Phyllodium (Gr. phyllon, leaf, eidos, form), as in the Acacias. It serves 

 as a tendril in the Clematis and other plants. 



188. The Stipule is a transformed leaf, at the base of the true leaf, or 

 on the petiole. Stipules are usually in pairs, one on each side of the 

 leaf. They are Adnate (adherent) to the petiole in the Rose ; Free in 

 the Apple ; Ligulate (L. ligula, shoe-latchet) in the Grasses ; Ochreate 

 (L. oehrea, boot, greave, leggin), united, forming a leggin, in the Smart- 

 weed. They are changed to stout thorns in the Locust. They are 

 Caducous, Fugacious, when they fall early ; Persistent when they re- 

 main, — terms applied to all leaves, sepals, petals, etc. 



liiiitti."" 



Fig. 115. — Century Plant (Agnae ameri- 

 cana). Monocarpic. Plant entire, in fl. 



