Human Side of Plants

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1914 Excerpt: ... PLANTS THAT EAT INSECTS So sensitive, It catcheth each rover that doth touch its leaves. PLANTS set traps, catch, and eat flies, bees, butterflies, gnats, ants, fish, and even large moths! There are a variety of animal foods which are needed to satisfy the various tastes of plants; for the same menu cannot satisfy all kinds of plants, any more than one food can suit the palates of all human beings. Plants have their likes and dislikes in food, just as people have their preferences. Most of the insect-eating plants love marshy lowlands, and in such localities they cannot get from the earth the necessary amount of nitrogen and sulphur, which all plants require. As a result they are forced to resort to carnivorous habits, in order to obtain the requisite nourishment. They set traps, catch their prey, kill and eat it, and extract from the bodies of these insects the food required. The carnivorous plants have many ingenious methods of securing their prey. Some actually set traps into which the unsuspecting traveller is lured; some so place their bait as to entice the prey gradually into their innermost dungeons, from which no live insect ever returns; some set their traps under water, for they like fish; others diabolically imitate the mother-fish's mouth, so that the frightened little minnows, in time of danger, may rush into it for safetyOne of the most remarkable of the insect-eating plants, really marvellous in the humanness of its cunning, is Venus's fly-trap, which has its home in the swamps of North Carolina. The leaf-stalks are divided into two parts; the lower part performs the work of a real leaf, while the upper part is engaged in trapping insects. This upper part--the leaf-trap--consists of two halves, edged with a long row of teeth and covered wit...