THE DROSERA, OR SUNDEW. 
269 
successively occupies the apex of the perpen- 
dicular part of the scape, expanding, but if 
the day be not sunny it never expands at all, 
but the next above it does when it arrives at 
the apex ; the flowers consist of five oblong 
petals, when expanded forming a little star. 
It is common in mossy bogs, and wet heathy 
ground. Flowers in July and August. 
Drosera longifolia, Linnaeus (spathulate- 
leaved Sundew). — A small herbaceous peren- 
nial, in size and habit much resembling D. 
rotundifolia. In this species however the 
leaves are spathulate, very obtuse, and grow 
erect on long glabrous petioles ; they are 
greenish-purple, and furnished as in the others 
with pink glandular hairs. The flowers are 
small and white, and grow in a curved one- 
sided raceme, at the top of the scape, which in 
this species, instead of rising perfectly erect 
from the root, is curved or decumbent at the 
base, erect in the upper part. It is found in 
mossy bogs, and wet heathy ground, not un- 
common, but more frequent in the south than 
in the north. It flowers in July and August. 
A variety having shorter leaves, and the 
flower-scapes shorter than the leaves, has been 
found in Ireland. Also called D. intermedia, 
(Reiehenbaeh). 
Drosera anglica, Hudson (great Sundew). 
— A small herbaceous perennial, but growing 
twice the size of the last. The leaves are 
numerous, obovate-lanceolate, obtuse, erect, 
on long glabrous petioles, of a pale purplish 
green, clothed with red glandular hairs. The 
scape grows erect from the root, and is curved 
at the apex, bearing there a one-sided raceme 
of small white flowers, which are produced in 
July and August. It is found in similar situa- 
tions with the others, but less frequent ; it 
is more common in Ireland. A variety with 
broader leaves, and affording some minute dif- 
ference in the blossoms is met with in Scot- 
land. It is also called D. obovata, and D. 
longifolia (Heyne). 
The Droseras possess an acrid principle, 
which, according to Withering, is, in our na- 
tive species, " sufficiently caustic to erode the 
skin ;" but he observes, " some ladies know 
how to mix the leaves with milk, so as to make 
it an innocent and safe application to remove 
freckles and sunburn." He also adds, that the 
juice which exudes, unmixed, will destroy 
warts and corns. The Droseras also possess 
an acid property, and, according to some, are 
poisonous to cattle ; they have been charged 
with having the power of causing the rot in 
sheep. It was at one time supposed that the 
leaves possessed the same irritable property as 
those of the fly-trap : but their mode of en- 
tangling the flies seems altogether different. 
Instead of collapsing as do the lobes of the 
leaves of Dionsea, and in this way enclosing 
the captive insect, the Droseras appear rather 
to hold them by the viscid property of their 
dew-like secretion. When an insect settles on 
any part of the leaf, it finds itself gummed 
down as it were by contact with this secreted 
fluid, and unless it be large and powerful, its 
struggles to escape serve but to fix it the more 
firmly, from bringing in into contact with a 
greater amount of the viscid matter, until at 
length, it becomes so surrounded by the curved 
hairs, which are fastened to its body by the 
sticky fluid, that its escape is entirely pre- 
vented, and it is accordingly held in that po- 
sition till it perishes. Withering, however, re- 
lated some instances in which the leaves had 
been observed to collapse or fold up, and thus 
enclose the insects. 
Another property possessed by these plants 
is that of staining paper. In fact, some exotic 
species it is believed might be turned to ac- 
count in this way. All our wild species have 
this property ; but it is less powerful in D. 
rotundifolia than in D. longifolia, and D. 
anglica. Specimens collected for herbariums, 
after having been dried, still possess the same 
property, even to the extent of penetrating 
several contiguous sheets of the paper among 
which they are laid. Sir W. Hooker observes, 
that with him D. rotundifolia, and D. anglica 
retained this property for a number of years, so 
that the form of the leaves, scapes and flowers 
is distinctly represented through to the back 
of the sheets on which they are fastened, and 
also upon the backs of others which may at 
any time have been lain above them ; and 
this, though the specimens are perfectly dry. 
Respecting the special properties of par- 
ticular exotic species, we find a record of the 
following : — D. communis of Brazil is said by 
Augustede St. Hilaire to be poisonous to sheep. 
D. lunata has viscid leaves with glandular 
fringes, which close upon flies and other insects 
that happen to alight upon them ; it is pro- 
bable it would yield a valuable dye. It is also 
believed that some of the Swan River species 
of Drosera might be turned to account in that 
way, for every part of D. gigantea stains paper 
of a brilliant deep purple, and when fragments 
are treated with ammonia they yield a clear 
yellow. The bulbs of D. erythrorhiza and 
D. stolonifera have similar dyeing qualities. 
The most convenient mode of cultivating 
them is to plant them in wide shallow pots, 
about three parts filled up with broken pot- 
sherds, and rough peat soil, on which a layer 
of living sphagnum moss is to be planted, and 
the Droseras planted among the sphagnum ; the 
pots should be kept standing in pans or feeders of 
water. They may be kept in a frame, which 
should occupy a shady cool situation. In 
winter the plants may be slightly covered over 
during severe weather with a layer of loose 
