68 
The J\^iituvalitits’ Companion. 
An InsecTtivorous Plant. 
BY GEO. E. BRIGGvS, PEEKSKTEE, N. Y. 
Many persons have read with niueli 
interest accounts of insectivorous birds, 
but have not realized the fact that there 
are members of the vegetable kingdom 
around us that devour insects and other 
minute animal life. But such has been 
found to be the nature and character 
of the Sundew family, and especially 
the genus Drosera. The principal rep¬ 
resentative of this genus is the specie 
Rotundi folia. 
This plant, commonh' called the 
Eound-leaved Sundew, is found in peat 
bogs and poor soil, such as can only 
sustain sphagnum mosses and the like. 
It is chiefly met with in the northerly 
regions. I'he flowers are small and 
white and bloom during July and Aug¬ 
ust. The most peculiar characteristic 
of this plant is the part taken by its 
leaves. They are usualh' from t^\o to 
six in number, and generally spread 
out radially and horizontally from the 
scape’s base. The leaves of this spe¬ 
cies, as the name indicates, are some¬ 
what rounded and concave. The up¬ 
per surface of the leaf is covered with 
what appears to be glandular hairs of 
a purple color, though the leaf itself is 
of the usual green. These liairs, or 
tentacles, as they are usually called, 
though very short in the centre of the 
disk, grow longer as they approach the 
margin, w^here they bend backward. 
They seem to be prolongations of the 
leaf itself instead of ordinary hairs be¬ 
longing to the epidermal system. 
If a small object be placed upon the 
centre of the leaf, the impulse is trans¬ 
mitted to all the tentackles, and soon 
the object is clasped l)y eveiy one of 
the hairs. This process takes from 
one to five iiours, according to circum¬ 
stances, as the age and vigor of the 
leaf, the size of the object, etc. The 
object, no matter where it falls, is first 
carried to the centre of the disk and 
then goes through the regular process, 
being all this time held fast by the vis¬ 
cid secretion of the glands. 
The time during which a leaf remains 
incurvate, or the tentacles continue to 
be inflected, varies, and depends upon 
the nature of the ])risoner. If the cap¬ 
tured prey is capable of yielding nutri¬ 
ment to the plant, the leaf much longer, 
remains incurvate than when the object 
is not nutritious. After an interval of 
from one to six days the hairs again 
expand and the plant is again ready 
for another victim. 
The natural pre}' of the Drosera ro- 
tundifolia is insects, though the leaves 
may be fed with meat, albumen and 
various liquids, and have actually 
been known to die from dyspepsia, as 
it were, from imbibing to much cheese. 
At the end of each tentacle is a gland 
which secrets a drop of viscid sub¬ 
stance. This is notin the least affect¬ 
ed b\ the sun, though its hot rays soon 
dry the real dew resting on the plant, 
consequently its popular name of Sun¬ 
dew. 
The mail}' experiments made upon 
this plant, and the great amount of in¬ 
vestigation given to the subject, has 
proven that the tiny roots of the Sun¬ 
dew serve simply as a means of imbib¬ 
ing moisture for the plant, while the 
real food is obtained by means of the 
foregoing process. 
Surely this is a curious plant. What 
a close relationship there seems to ex¬ 
ist here between the animal and Aege- 
tal)le kingdouE It Avould appear that 
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