DROSERA SUNDEW. 



101 



DROSERACE/E. 



Character of the Order. — Low, glandular-hairy herbs, with tufted radi- 

 cal leaves, and flowers in naked 1-sided racemes, growing in bogs and 

 marshes. Sepals 5, equal, imbricate, persistent. Petals 5, hypogynous, 

 withering. Stamens distinct, hypogynous, equal in number with the 

 petals, and alternate with them, or two to four times as many. Ovary 

 single, 1-celled, many-ovuled, with 3 or 5 parietal placentae ; styles 3 or 5, 

 deeply bifid, appearing like 6 or 10. Capsule 3- or 5-valved, many-seeded. 



An order represented in North America by two genera, namely Drosera 

 and Dionaea, together comprising eight species. 



DROSERA. —Sundew. 



Drosera rotundifolia Linne. — Round-leaved Sundew. 



Description. — Calyx : sepals as in the character of the order. Corolla : 

 petals oblong, white. Styles very short, bifid. Seeds linear, with a 

 loose, membranaceous coat. Leaves or- 

 bicular, spreading, abruptly narrowed to 

 a long, hairy petiole. Scape erect, smooth, 

 4 to 10 inches high, 5- to 10-flowered. 

 The long, glandular hairs are tipped with 

 minute drops of glutinous material which 

 in sunshine look like dew-drops, whence 

 the common name, sundew. Annual or 

 biennial, flowering from June to August. 



Habitat. — In sphagnous swamps and 

 bogs from the Arctic regions to the Gulf 

 of Mexico ; also in corresponding lati- 

 tudes of the Eastern hemisphere. 



Part Used. — The herb — not official. 



Constituents. — The juice of sundew is 

 bitter and acrid, but its chemical constit- 

 uents are unknown. 



Preparations. — The expressed juice and 

 an alcoholic tincture of the recent plant 

 have been employed. 



Medical Properties and Uses. —The ther- 

 apeutic virtues of this plant are alto- 

 gether problematical. It is said to have 

 been used with good effect in pulmonary phthisis, but as the same state- 

 ment has been made regarding almost every plant known, the reader, in 

 the absence of positive evidence, may draw his own conclusions. The 

 juice, employed topically, is said to cure warts and corns. 



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Fig. 111.— Drosera rotundifolia. 



