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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1936)
Strange Plant Kingdom Cannibals Thrive in Western Gardens Frequently the subject of fiction narratives, these strange plants actually devour insects for food! On the left is the Pitcher plant, nepenthes. Figure No. 1 shows the Pitcher plant as it appears normally, while figure No. 2 shows what happens to the insects which venture within it. Figure No. 3 is the Drosera intermedia, or Sundew, several leaves of which have united to catch a small dragon-fly. Figure No. 4 is a drawing of a Venus' Fly Trap, Dionaea muscipul'a, while figure No. 5 gives a closeup view of the same plant. Figure No. 6 shows a picture of the Sarracenia, popularly known as Indian Cup, Side-saddle Flower and Trumpet Leaf, cut open to show the black mass of organic matter at the bottom which results from the plant's digestion of its captives. The photograph is of Cecil Solly, plant authority, whose interesting articles appear regularly in Five Star Weekly. By Cecil Solly PLANTS that trap insects; plants that swallow tiny water Creatures for food strange, fascin ating cannibal inhabitants of the plant kingdom can be grown successfully in your own backyard! Not fiction, this though the subject has pro vided many a writer with a weird plot Instead, the fascinating members of this family actually are stranger than the fiction they've inspired. It is a matter of wonder to the gardener why there should be any plants whose main item of diet is provided by the trapping of unwary insects. Be cause of the quaintness of this action, public in terest never fails to center around them. Eric Walther, Golden Gate Park's insect-control expert, explains that because the soil where insect eating plants grow is too acid, the plants get less nitrogen than they need for health. They've learn ed, therefore over thousands of generations to absorb insects, which give them the vital nitrogen. All plant life, Walther says, is carefully balanced; what they cannot get from one source they take from another. ' Stories usually magify the size of the prey cap tured by these plants. Quite Small insects are their usual captures, and never the large animals, such as lions and tigers, with which the story-weavers delight to credit them. In the fiction stories one sometimes finds a tale of how the imaginary plants stalk their game. Of course, we know that all plants must stay where they are rooted, and by some method of attraction draw the unsuspecting small Insect into the trap. IN most parts of the world it is a popular fallacy that all plants Of this order come from tropical countries and can only be grown in greenhouses. This notion has undoubtedly been brought about by the fact that all the Nepenthes or Pitcher plants, showiest of the flesh-eaters, are truly trop ical. They require a minimum temperature of around 65 degrees, F. Here in the west, we all know the Pitcher plant that will grow out-of-doors and was found origin ally in some of the marshy districts of California. It is well known there under both the name of Pitcher plant and California Side-saddle flower. To day, this and other carnivorous plants are grown out-of-doors with perfect safety as far north as British Columbia, although they sometimes require a slightly protected position. They must, of course, be grown in a spot which is as much like their native habitat as possible. This particular plant, the Darlingtonia Califor nica, captures rather large insects by tempting the victims to enter the trap. The mouth of the Pitcher is completely covered by a large hood Of a reddish or purplish coloring on green, but liberally pro vided with patches of translucenttissue. Any fly ing insects that enter the trap batter themselves against the interior of the hood, mistaking the bright patches for openings. They continue this fruitless endeavor to escape until they fall exhaus ted into the bottom of the Pitcher and are duly digested. Anothe well-known native the Sarracenia is found in many sections of this country and known as the North American Pitcher plant. It captures insects by a process similar to that of the Darling tonia. The trap is slightly different. The mouth is protected on the inner side by downward point ing spines. Honey is exuded by glandular hairs above the orifice. To render the apparatus more effective, the inner walls f the plant are lined by cells that have an cname-like smoothness, which provides ho secure foothold for any insect that ventures en them. THE Venus Fly-Trap, or Dionaea, one of the Greek names for Venus, is a native of the swampe of North Carolina and other southern states. There have been many fables woven around this plant It is one of extreme interest to gardeners, owing to the irritability displayed by the fringes on the winged leaves. The leaf is divided by the mid rib into two nearly semi-circular halves. Each half is fringed with stiff hairs and exactly resembles a miniature rat-trap. When the hairs are touched by a fly or other insect, the sides of the leaf are brought together with a sudden snap, imprisoning the intruder! Although it is to be found in very few gardens in this district, the Drosera Rotiindifolia, or com mon English native Sundew, does very well here. It is found in England in bogs and wet, peaty places. It is not at all a difficult plant to grow, providing it can be given similar garden conditions. It is a small plant; only six inches high when in flower. It spreads its neat rosette of long-stalked, almost circular leaves flat on the ground. Every leaf is covered with wine-red filaments, each with a viscid gland at the tip, and looking like bo many red pins in a pin-cushion. When an insect lights on these filaments it is immediately held by the fluid. The more it strug gles the more it is covered with the sticky sub stance. The filaments Blowly close in On the insect, taking two or three hours to complete the job. By that time it is pressed securely into the center of the leaf and gradually dissolved and digested by a secreted fluid. THERE are several native species of the Butter wort, quite common on the east coast from New York to Florida. They are curious and beautiful little plants named from the Latin word Pinguis, meaning fat, referring to the greasiness of the leaves. They are marsh plants and refuse to exist out of their native habitat. Therefore, great care is necessary to grow them in a garden here, although if conditions are duplicated and the plants healthy their beautiful flowers are the admiration of every beholder. The plant traps small insects by means of the greasy excretion on its leaves. There are many forms of the genus of the curious aquatic Bladderwort, or Lobster-Pot, to be found throughout the United States. They are submerged aquatics, with multitudes of small blad ders, each with a tiny opening protected on the inside by stiff hairs, arranged much like the inter ior mouth of a lobster-pot. These bladder-like ap pendages aid the plant to float or sink, as desired, and also entrap minute water creatures. It is particularly interesting that during the early stage of the plant, the small "bladders" at the roots are filled with water; but, when the flowers are ready to expand, they become filled with air. After the season of flowering the vesicles become again filled with water, and the plant de scends to ripen its seeds on the bottom. All of these plants incidentlly will bring addi tional interest to the home garden. They are not so easily grown as some of the better-known plants, but the additional care will be repaid by the results. There is ' always something attractive about the unusual. Reno Preacher Says: "Self-Pity is Losing Game Can't Concentrate on Miseries and Pleasant Things at Same Time, Famed "Sky-Pilot" Advises II POR a Quarter of century. Brewster Adams, beloved f Baptist pastor of Reno, hat known all phases of life. City folk and desert dwellers; wealthy and poor alike call him "friend." Out of his great (tore of rich, human experi ence, Brewster Adams is writing these stories for readers of Five Star Weekly. And they're stories you won't want to miss. Watch for the Reno preacher's Sage comments and colorful anecdotes. They will be a regular feature of Five Star Weekly. Editor. By BREWSTER ADAMS (For 25 Teats Reno's Baptist Preacher) IF you want to get down so low that you have to reach up to scratch a worm . . . If you want to dig a pit for yourself, a grave with little chance of resurrection ... If you want to have folks say about you, "I knew her when she was very nice" Or "he used to be quite a man" . . . If you want to put yourself out of the game and sit on the sidelines . . . If you want to be miserable and wretched, neither amiable, agree able nor attractive to others, then . . . Just start being sorry for yourself. It's the sure way to unhappiness! SELF-PITY is a concentration on our miseries. It shuts out everything pleasant. Two things are too many to think of at once! It can't be done. I try to tell my good wife that t can't write this and be reminded that the house is cold at the same time. She must choose between a humble coal heaver and a man who is up on the football scores "Yes, my dear, I'll fill the hod." But, as I was saying before this interruption, you can't enjoy your misery and remember your blessings at the same time. These blessings are as sensitive as the fellow who puts little in the box. Ignore him and he never cornea again. "Poor me" leaves me poor, indeed. It not only leaves us forlorn but alone. A good friend is will ing to bear our burdens with us, but not even Christ asked to share our complaints. Sympathy is a fine word. The lexicon will tell you that it implies some degree of equality, Kin dred, or unity, while pity is a feeling for those who Brewtter Adam are weaker or inferior to ourselves. Just as the Democrats may feel pity, but have no sympathy, for us Republicans. PITY makes us the under dog which reminds me of our old English setter, Sam. He used to come into the house and after making several turns, reminiscent of wolf days and deep grass, would lie down before the fireplace with a sigh of deepest content. He had everything family, fire and food. A dog-gone good dog. But you could talk him to tears, plaguing him with pity. "Poor, old Sam. Poor, old boy," you said it with mournful tone. He would look up with those sad eyes Of his, groan with a low lament and slowly come up and put his head on your knee with a whimper of weeping as plainly evident as though he were shedding tears. If you haven't a good dog (if hot, I am sorry) try it on the children or even on yourself. "You poor little dear, did somebody abuse you? Does no body love you?" Certainly, you can get anybody crying and, what Is far worse, you can make your self cry. Folks do that to children and wonder why they become cry babies. Contrast that with a friend of mine who takes his small boy hunting ducks, puts him out in a cold box in the tules and says to his friends, before the lad, "Bobby can take it. Cold or wet or wind, he never cries." And Bobby would freeze before he would let out a cry. The ducks may squawk, but not the lad. Bobby is apt to be quite a man. He hasn't shot any ducka, although his dad credits him with tome when both shoot at the same time for encourage ment I remember when out with my small son a couple of ducks dropped in. I whispered, "YOU take the one on the right and I'll take the left" Think ing it might disappoint the lad to miss, I shot at his bird. It dropped and mine got away, t missing on the second shell. It was disconcerting, but really funny, to have the boy speak up, "Dad, you missed youra. Next time I had better take them both." That confidence was just what he needed. Up to then, he had always pitied himself because he couldn't get them. We all miss them, but crying never helps our aim. THERE was "Squeak" Harriman! ... I beg par don, It is now Mr. Harriman, prominent in business, school, bank and club in Elko. He has about as many friends as a man could have who sells automobiles. When Squeak Mr. Harriman I should say was in the University of Nevada he was one o our best linesmen. But he was too amiable. He seemed to feel sorry for his opponent and careful for him self. The boys used to frame on him and one of his Own team would catch him in the pile-up and ad minister some gentle little football gesture noth ing serious, perhaps a kick in the face, or a cleat in his stomach and presently they had one of the best linesmen Nevada has ever boasted. Strange, how some folks seem to enjoy misery. There was little Rachel whom I knew down, in the slums. Like a lot of people who are well off, but still live in the slums of depressed mind, she once asked of me: "Mister Adams, have youse seen de play over at de Bowery T'eater? Youse ought to see it. It's de saddest show fer ten cents dat I ever seen." Seems humanity has always let Itself down by being sorry for itself. Dust off the Old Book and read of Elijah, the prophet, who laid under a juni per tree, lamenting that he was the only good man left and nobody appreciated him. "I, even I only, am left, and they seek to take my life." And the Lord rebuked him for his woe fulness. "Elijah, go forth and stand upon the mount. . . , I have left me seven thousand In Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal." YOU see, the trouble was the prophet "got down," and there is no profit in that. Contrast that depression with David, the sweet singer, who "en couraged himself in the Lord" as the Psalms say. How much better it is to give ourselves a break even to imagine ourselves to be pretty good folks. It wouldn't do for me to advocate betting. My folks taught me that if I was a good boy I wouldn't bet, but a lot of my friends say that a man who doeen't bet is no bettor ( I'll bet the printer spoils that one). But as a preacher who sees so many giving themselves the worst of it, I would take a chance on saying, as all clean sportsmanship requires and all good sense dictates: "Never bet against yourself tq win." RAOI FIVI
