The Orpine Family Wild Flowers

VENUS FLYTRAP        

This carnivorous plant has a more restricted range than the preceding species, being found only in North and South Carolina, where it grows in wet pinelands and sandy bogs. Venus Flytrap has the most unique insect- catching leaves of all, each prostrate leaf (several inches in length) having aged midrib, with the margin of the leaf edged with sharp teeth. The Saul part of each leaf is neither hinged nor toothed, but functions as a aminmal leaf. In the center of the hinged portion are short stiff spines which act as triggers to set off the trap mechanism. When an insect chances to step on one of these spines, an impulse is transmitted to the midrib portion and the two halves of the leaf close over the insect, the marginal teeth interbcking to prevent his escape. Glands on the surface of the leaf secrete digestive juices which prepare the insect's body for absorption. During the lowering season, in spring, stalks up to a foot in height bear clusters of small flowers. Each has a calyx of five sepals and a regular corolla of five separate petals.

The Orpine family is another family with unusual members; in this case they are succulent annuals and perennials with fleshy leaves, adapted for living in arid, desert habitats. Of the 500 or more species included in the Orpine family, almost all of them inhabit south Asia, south Africa, the Mediterranean region and Mexico. Many novelty plants are found in this family, such as the "life plants," Kalanchoe and Bryophyllum, which sprout new plants from the edges of the leaves; and the cultivated houseleek and hen-and-chickens, which are species of Sempervivum.

STONECROP  

This is a species with prostrate or spreading weak stems which bear several pairs of flat succulent leaves and a terminal rosette of crowded leaves. The small flowers are borne in clusters which are often one-sided. Each flower has four or five sepals and an equal number of petals. Stonecrop grows on damp rocks, mossy banks and edges of streams from New York to Georgia, west to Michigan. The flowering period is from April to June.