FOODS IN PLANTS 53 
the trees to enable them to thrive. The European mistletoe 
causes much damage to apple trees in northern France and in 
be the Tirol. 
| 54. Carnivorous plants. 
There are many kinds of 
plants (probably more than 
four hundred species) which 
capture insects and other 
small animals. In some 
cases at least they may 
digest the captured animals 
as a part of their food sup- 
ply. Some of these plants 
entrap their prey by means 
of hollow leaves, some by 
means of sticky secretions, 
and some by means of 
quickly closing, trap-like 
leaves. The best type of 
carnivorous plant is the 
sundew (lig. 36). This is 
a low marsh 
plant having 
hairy leaves 
and a slender 
— flower © stalk, 
— on Which are 
borne small 
white flowers. 
In one widely 
distributed spe- 
cies the leaf 
consists of a 
narrow blade tapering into a moderately long leafstalk. On 
the inner surface and around the margin of the blade are 
borne a number of short bristles, each terminating in a knob 
Fic. 36. The sundew, a carnivorous plant 
