64 



MORPHOLOGY 



common jhangi {Utricularia) (fig. 66) of our tanks 

 bears small bladders or pitchers among the capillary 

 segments of their leaves (fig. 67). The bladders have 

 each a small valve {a) which opens only inwards. 

 Small insects that can hardly be seen by the naked 

 eye pass in through the opening and are caught as in 

 a trap set for them. For, as 

 they enter, the valve closes 



Figf. 66. — Common Jhangi 

 {Utricularta stellayt's) 



Figr- 67.— Section of Bladder of Utricu- 

 laria — enlarged (after Strasburger^ 



rt, Valve, b, Gland. 



behind them, and within there is a fluid which soon 

 kills and decomposes them, and they are absorbed or 

 eaten, being reduced to a liquid capable of absorption 

 by osmose. The digestive fluid within the bladders 

 is secreted by the glands {b) situated on the inner 

 wall of the bladders. The pitchers of the Pitcher- 

 plant mentioned above are similarly traps for captur- 

 ing insects on which the plants feed. Such plants are 

 therefore known as insectivorous plants. 



