Droseraceae

Plants were chosen for trial at hazard, with the exception of two species of saxifrage, which were selected from belonging to a family allied to the Droseraceae.

Insectivorous Plants Charles Darwin 1845

In some concluding remarks in the fifteenth chapter on the Droseraceae, the different kinds of irritability possessed by the several genera, and the different manner in which they capture insects, will be compared. [page 321]

Insectivorous Plants Charles Darwin 1845

Droseraceae, concluding remarks on, 355 --, their sensitiveness compared with that of animals, 366

Insectivorous Plants Charles Darwin 1845

With the Droseraceae the secretion of a viscid fluid by the glands does not prevent their absorbing; so that the glands of other plants might excrete superfluous matter, or secrete an odoriferous fluid as a protection against the attacks of insects, or for any other purpose, and yet have the power of absorbing.

Insectivorous Plants Charles Darwin 1845

On the whole we may conclude that the acquirement of a high degree of sensitiveness and of the power of movement by certain genera of the Droseraceae presents no greater difficulty than that presented by the similar but feebler powers of a multitude of other plants.

Insectivorous Plants Charles Darwin 1845

* It is a member of the small family of the Droseraceae, and is found only in the eastern part of North Carolina, growing in damp situations.

Insectivorous Plants Charles Darwin 1845

The three most remarkable characters possessed by the several members of the Droseraceae consist in the leaves of some having the power of movement when excited, in their glands secreting a fluid which digests animal matter, and in their absorption of the digested matter.

Insectivorous Plants Charles Darwin 1845

The six genera of the Droseraceae very probably inherited this power from a common progenitor, but this cannot apply to

Insectivorous Plants Charles Darwin 1845

Droseraceae having acquired the power of absorption in a much more highly developed degree.

Insectivorous Plants Charles Darwin 1845

Whatever their function may be, they are not necessary for the secretion of a digestive fluid, or for absorption, or for the communication of a motor impulse to other parts of the leaf, as we may infer from the structure of the glands in some other genera of the Droseraceae.

Insectivorous Plants Charles Darwin 1845