fact that insects do not commonly adhere to the glands with which they
first come into contact, though this does sometimes occur; and that it
is chiefly the secretion from the sessile glands which dissolves animal
matter out of their bodies.
RORIDULA.
Roridula dentata.—This plant, a native of the western parts of the Cape
of Good Hope, was sent to me in a dried state from Kew. It has an
almost woody stem and branches, and apparently grows to a height of
some feet. The leaves are linear, with their summits much attenuated.
Their upper and lower surfaces are concave, with a ridge in the middle,
and both are covered with tentacles, which differ greatly in length;
some being very long, especially those on the tips of the leaves, and
some very short. The glands also differ much in size and are somewhat
elongated. They are supported on multicellular pedicels.
This plant, therefore, agrees in several respects with [page 343]
Drosophyllum, but differs in the following points. I could detect no
sessile glands; nor would these have been of any use, as the upper
surface of the leaves is thickly clothed with pointed, unicellular
hairs directed upwards. The pedicels of the tentacles do not include
spiral vessels; nor are there any spiral cells within the glands. The
leaves often arise in tufts and are pinnatifid, the divisions
projecting at right angles to the main linear blade. These lateral
divisions are often very short and bear only a single terminal
tentacle, with one or two short ones on the sides. No distinct line of
demarcation can be drawn between the pedicels of the long terminal
tentacles and the much attenuated summits of the leaves. We may,
indeed, arbitrarily fix on the point to which the spiral vessels
proceeding from the blade extend; but there is no other distinction.
It was evident from the many particles of dirt sticking to the glands
that they secrete much viscid matter. A large number of insects of many
kinds also adhered to the leaves. I could nowhere discover any signs of
the tentacles having been inflected over the captured insects; and this
probably would have been seen even in the dried specimens, had they
possessed the power of movement. Hence, in this negative character,
Roridula resembles its northern representative, Drosophyllum.
BYBLIS.
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