442 



DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



Acrophyllum venosum, a native of New South Wales, is a 

 favourite show plant. 



Cunonia capensis, a native of the Cape of Good Hope. A 

 small tree, having winged leaves and large stipules, the whole, 

 as well as the root, being of a reddish colour, the latter 

 smelling like carrots. At the Cape it is known by the name 

 of " Blood Elze." 



t f f Stamens hypogynous. 

 VIOLET, TAMARISK, AND BARBERRY ALLIANCE. 



The Sundew Family. 



(Droserace^.) 



Small herbs, rosulate perennials (rarely frutlets). Leaves 

 round or spathulate, entire or divided, fringed with glandu- 

 lar hairs, or the upper portion fringed with cilia, or (as in 

 Aldrovanda) with floating appendages. Flowers solitary or 

 in spikes. Sepals 5. Petals 5, each imbricate in the bud. 

 Stamens 5 to 10. Pistils 3 to 5. Fruit a 3- or 5-valved 

 capsule. Seeds numerous. 



This pretty family of plants consists probably of nearly 

 100 species, the greater number belonging to the genus 

 Drosera (Sundews). They are found in marshy places 

 throughout warm and temperate regions. In Western Aus- 

 tralia several species grow in dry places, while Aldrovanda 

 vesiculosa^ a native of the South of Europe, floats in water. 

 Drosera rotundifolia and D. longifolia are the well-known 

 Sundews of this country. The leaves of the Australian 

 species of Drosera are entire and almost plain, like primrose 

 leaves, and contain a dye which stains paper red. 



Venus's Fly-trap (Dionoea muscipula). A remarkable 

 plant, with leaves rising from a centre in the form of a 

 rosette, each leaf consisting of two parts, the lower part 

 being linear and terminated by two distinct lobes about the 

 size of the thumb-nail. The margin of each lobe is fringed 

 with cilia, and the disk is furnished with from 3 to 5 hairs. 



