PLANT VILLAINS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19903, 24 September 1926, Page 10

PLANT VILLAINS.

NATURAL HISTORY STORIES.' SOME UNCANNY ACTIVITIES. Plants that murder, steal, walk, eat insects, go fishing, appreciate beefsteak, sleep, shudder at the human touch, set traps for victims, perspire, digest food, enjoy longevity, feel, taste, repel enemies! They can be found in most botanical gardens, emigrants from all parts of the world. The most remarkable and the most interesting of all the strange plants which grow are those with the criminal instincts (says the Johannesburg Star). The Venus flytrap, known under its Latin name aa Dionaca musicipula, is a strangely interesting plant. Here is the way Dr Stuart Gager describes it: —"This plant is closely related to the more common sundew (Drosera) and both are insectivorous plants. The leaves form a rosette. Each leaf has a broad stem and a bilobed blade, with a number of rigid teeth along the margin. The midrib forms a hinge so that the halves of the blade are able to open and shut. The blades are covered with glands, reddish in the natural state, but green when grown in the shade. Each leaf of the blade has three very sensitive hairs. When one or more of these hairs on either side of the blade is touched by an insect or other object, a stimulus is transmitted to the midrib, the blades fold quickly together, and the teeth interlock as when one folds his hands. By this method insects are constantly entrapped. The surface glands then secrete a fluid with properties similar to those of the gastric and pancreatic juices of the digestive system of mammals, and the digested protein material is_ then absorbed by the leaf, serving as animal diet for the plant. In a similar way Venus flytrap will digest and absorb small bits of lean meat, though the animal diet is not necessary for the plant." Another killer is a sundew, a dainty creature of the swamps. Its leaves grow in rosettes, and are covered with red tentacles. At the tip of each is the bait, like the cheese to the rat trap or the worm to the fisherman’s hook. The sundew’s bait is a tiny drop of honey-like substance, which sparkles like dew. From the centre of the small rosettes, slender stalks shoot upward, and pink or violet-hued flowers, fragile and charming, grow at the ends. This seductive-looking plant, inviting passers-by to sip its sweet nectar, is certain to accomplish its dark purpose. An ant or fly goes after that glistening honey-dew, and its legs are soon held fast in the sticky drop. It struggles valiantly, but the fight for escape is hopeless. _ The insect is held there imprisoned until it dies of exhaustion, and its juices are sucked up by the leal. Then the cruel hairs look extremely innocent again, waiting for the next prey. It will also eat bits of beef and boiled egg. The pitcher plant, known to botanists by its scientific name—-Sarracenia purpurea—lives in low, wet places, bogs, and swamps. The blossoms are somelimes dull red, at other times a delicate pmk or light green, and have a faint fragrance. The leaves are shaped like pitchers, and contain a fluid. The top of the pitcher is like a lid. The inner walls are covered with hairs pointing downwards, and the sweet fluid on these invites fly or bee to the terrible death chamber. The fly, attracted by the colour, fragrance, and sweet nectar of this enticing plant, pushes open the door of the pitcher and enters. But when the insect is ready to depart it finds that the hairs which dropped to let it in are now in such a position as to prevent escape. Besides, the lid has shut down tight. The fly soon grows exhausted with the struggle, and tumbles back into the sweet liquid which had lured it, and which now serves as an embalming fluid.