256 CLASSIFICATION 



called in Bengali by the name of chhota- (small) 

 jhangi: the utricles or bladders in these plants have 

 an opening shut by a valve which opens inwards and 

 is beset with long erect hairs. The inner wall of the 

 utricles is studded with 3-forked glands (see fig. 67). 

 Water fjlls the utricles. Little snails and water- 

 insects, chased by bigger insects, easily enter the 

 bladders for shelter by pushing down the valve, but 

 cannot "get out, as the valves do not open outwards. 

 Thus imprisoned, the little animals soon die, and are 

 digested by the juice secreted by the glands. Hard 

 and indigestible remains of the animals captured are 

 often met with within the bladders. The hairs at the 

 mouth of the bladder probaby prevent the pursuit of 

 bigger chasing insects. 



The flowers of Utricularia are yellow and homo- 

 gamous. The entrance to the flower is closed by the 

 close application of the upper and lower lips, and the 

 lower lip serves as an alighting-platform for insects, 

 which by their weight depress it, The stigma is 

 sensitive, and bends upwards and backwards at the 

 touch of an intruding insect. Most plants of this 

 Order capture and digest insects. 



Nat. Order 27. Gesneracece. — Herbs closely allied 

 to Acanthacecs and Scrophulariacece, but readily dis- 

 tinguished bydidynamous or diandrous stamens, with 

 their anthers apparently connate, in pairs. Mostly 

 subtropical and temperate. A few plants of this order, 

 belonging to the genera of Didymocarpus, Chirita, 

 &c., are found in the hilly tracts of Chittagong and 

 Chhota Nagpur. The leaf, when solitary on the plant, 

 is sometimes a highly-developed cotyledon, as in the 

 Nepal herb Platystemma violoides (fig. 221). Some 

 few are epiphytes, as ^schynanthus bracteata, found 

 at a height of 7000 feet in Darjiling. 



