The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-06-14
THE TRICKS OF PLANTS.

| and to accomplish that object it will do 1 almost anything which it is possible for a plant to do.
 In order that the seed of a flower may be fertile, the stigma, the knob at the l end of the pistil, must be dusted with pollen; as rule, pollen from some oth- | CT blossom, and to insure such fertili- zation there are no lengths to which plant will not go. Some flowers are able to fertilize their own seeds and for others this great problem is solved by the wind which carries the life-giving dust through the air in clouds. But
 there are many which depend upon such agents as insects and certain
 birds and as these creatures are all too
 busy to go about fertilizing flower seeds
 just for fun, the flowers are obliged to
 offer inducements in order to secure
 their services. Some flowers are hon
 est, and pay their little laborers in hon.
 ey, whilst others make false promises
 and resort to deception, Imprisonment
 and even murder in order to gain their
 ends. A day or two ago I was walking
 along the edge of wood when I mo-
 ticed an extremely disagreeable odor,
 and thinking that perhaps I might
 learn of some woodland tragedy, I
 hunted for the carcass which l sup
 posed was hidden in the underbrush.
 Suddenly the odor became very strong,
 and I looked up to find that l was
 brushing against a fine specimen of the
 "carrion vine," graceful creeper
 twining about the bushes and bearing
 clusters of pale, greenish, evil-smelling
 flowers. Gathered about it were many
 small flies which had been attracted to
 the spot, doubtless expecting to find de-
 caying flesh. For some reason these
 flies are the most suitable agents the
 plant can secure to carry it's pollen
 from flower to flower, and as the in- sects would not be attracted by beauti- full eolors and sweet perfumes the car
 rion vine practises this gruesome de-
 ception. In other countries there is
 found plant which not only has the odor of decaying meat, but the appear ance of it as well, thus forming dou-
 ble attraction to certain flies.
 The common "Jack-in-th the pulpit" is also tricky flower, and he often car ries his tricks to the extent of murder. Some of the flowers contain stamens and others contain pistils, and to get the pollen from the former to the latter is the problem Jack has to contend with Occasionally a fly or gnat will creep under the bright canopy and down into the pulpit of pollen bear ing flower, either to get out of the rain or in hope of honey, and at once he is a prisoner. The slippery wall offers no foothold and he cannot fly out because there is no room between the upright column and the pulpit wall to spread his wings. After many futile efforts to escape he becomes somewhat resigned and contents himself with the little honey he finds among the stamens. In the meantime, the anthers are ripening and presently they open, scattering the pollen all over the little captive After that there is no further need to detain him. so the edges of the inclosing leaf just little, opening door, as it were, by which he can escape. Off he goes. bearing with him load of pol len, and before long, perhaps, forget ting his recent predicament, he craWls | into another pulpit. If this happens to | be one containing pistils his fate IS | sealed After he has delivered the well l come pollen, the flower has no further | use for him, and does not even take the | trouble to set him free. There is very ! little chance of his being able to free | himself, and as there IS no honey in | that flower, the little prisoner straves to death.
 But 1t is not only for the sake of their offspring that plants resort to trickery l and murder; some are carnivorous and not only lure insects by promises of food, but kill and devour their captives The commonest plant of this class is the innocent-looking little sundew, which we may find in sunny bogs, and wet sandy places, and occasionally by he banks of streams. The best-knoWn l variety has several upright stems, ! over at the end, each of which bears a number of flower buds, and one open white flower. The caves are round, grow at the ends of 'ather long stalks and are pressed flat against the ground in a sort of rosette. At first glance they appear to be red, put this appearance is due to the fact hat each leaf is covered with small ed hairs At the end of each hair here is a drop of glistening fluid. These leaves are the traps which the 1lant sets for flies and other insects, md the glistening drops are the bait. The insects alight upon the leaves, ex- ,ecting a feast of honey. and at once hey arc caught by the legs in the ticky fluid. As they struggle to escape he other hairs near by close down over hem, and hold them until they die and ntil their juices are sucked in by the cas-.
 Venus fly trap, growing in North ;arolina is another plant which catch- S and devours insects. When fly lights upon a leaf, the leaf folds sud- enly down the middle, and squeezes he victim to death. Certain cells then end out an acid which dissolve the fly, ] nd other cells absorb the juice.
 A curious story is told by some mod Tn Munchauset of great botanist who iscovered gigantic carnivorous plant z