Abstract
MR. BENNETT notices the occurrence in Drosera rotun-difolia, Pinguiciila Vutlgaris, and Callitriche verna of peculiar bodies, which at first sight might be mistaken for stomata, and consisting of two nearly hemispherical cells filled with protoplasm. Each of the hemispheres contain a darker nucleus-like spot, and each is surrounded by a thin-walled cell containing chlorophyll. From these hemispherical bodies are developed the papillæ with thin walls and containing chlorophyll. Drosera and Pingui-cula are carnivorous, and Mr. Bennett suggests that Callitriche may also be carnivorous, from the occurrence of these peculiar bodies. It seems probable that they are really as Mr. Bennett thinks, absorptive glands, and they certainly bear a strong superficial resemblance to the quadrifid processes found and described by Darwin in Utricularia and Genlisea. The subject is a very interesting one, and it is to be hoped that further research will throw more light on the matter. It is rather difficult to get a clear idea of the structures from the plate, which seems a little out of drawing, and rather confusing.
The Absorptive Glands of Carnivorous Plants.
Alfred W.
Bennett
By, Lecturer on Botany at St. Thomas's Hospital. Read before the Royal Microscopical Society, Dec. 1, 1875. With one plate.
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McNAB, W. The Absorptive Glands of Carnivorous Plants . Nature 13, 403 (1876). https://doi.org/10.1038/013403a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/013403a0