Hybrid rose rapidly suppresses insectivorous plant

Usage examples of drosera.

The parent form of Dionaea and Aldrovanda seems to have been closely allied to Drosera, and to have had rounded leaves, supported on distinct footstalks, and furnished with tentacles all round the circumference, with other tentacles and sessile glands on the upper surface.

Yet the cells of the glands of Drosera are thus excited to transmit a motor impulse to a distant point, inducing movement.

As so many experiments were tried on the digestive power of Drosera, only a few were made with Dionaea, but they were amply sufficient to prove that it digests, This plant, moreover, is not so well fitted as Drosera for observation, as the process goes on within the closed lobes.

In this respect Dionaea differs from Drosera, which catches and digests many insects after shorter intervals of time.

Drosera, on the other hand, lives chiefly on insects which are good flyers, especially Diptera, caught by the aid of its viscid secretion.

Again, fibrocartilage, though not properly dissolved, is acted on in the same manner, both by the secretion of Drosera and gastric juice.

At one time I felt convinced that morphia acted as a narcotic on Drosera, but after having found in what a singular manner immersion in certain nonpoisonous salts and acids prevents the subsequent action of phosphate of ammonia, whereas other solutions have no such power, my first conviction seems very doubtful.

The most interesting case for us is that of the two species of Saxifraga, as this genus is distantly allied to Drosera.

In Drosera the fluid within the cells of the tentacles at the bending place appears under the microscope thin and homogeneous, and after aggregation consists of small, soft masses of matter, undergoing incessant changes of form and floating in almost colourless fluid.

My son Francis placed a thin slice of spinach leaf, moistened with saliva, on a leaf of Drosera, and other slices on damp cottonwool, all exposed to the same temperature.

From trials made with a large number of substances, it was found that those which the secretion of Drosera dissolves completely, or partially, or not at all, are acted on in exactly the same manner by gastric juice.

A gland of Drosera may be forcibly hit once, twice, or even thrice, without any effect being produced, whilst the continued pressure of an extremely minute particle excites movement.

Gluten, therefore, excites the glands greatly, but is dissolved with much difficulty, exactly as in the case of Drosera.

Although these filaments are so sensitive to a momentary and delicate touch, they are far less sensitive than the glands of Drosera to prolonged pressure.

Drosera is, perhaps, connected with this power, for we have seen that the fluids in which they were immersed often became pink, and the glands palecoloured or white.