Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
[Introduction to Order XXVI. Droseraceæ.]
Herbs, rarely undershrubs. Leaves alternate, often rosulate, stipulate, usually furnished with glandular irritable hairs; vernation circinate. Flowers regular, hermaphrodite. Calyx 4–5-partite or divided into 4–5 free sepals, imbricate, persistent. Petals the same number, hypogynous, rarely perigynous, free or sometimes connate at the base. Stamens 4–5, rarely more, hypogynous or perigynous,. rarely epipetalous. Ovary free or nearly so, 1–3-celled; styles 1–5, simple or bifid or multifid; ovules numerous, attached to parietal placentas equalling the styles in number. Capsule membranous, loculicidally 3–5-valved; seeds numerous, albuminous; embryo straight, axile.
A small order, comprising 6 genera and about 120 species, distributed over the whole world with the exception of Polynesia, but most abundant is Australia. The whole of the species capture insects, usually by means of glandular viscid and irritable hairs; but in some cases, as the well-known Venus's fly-trap (Dionœa muscipula) by rapidly closing laminæ, which shut the insects as it were in a box. For a full account reference should be made to Mr. Darwin's well-known book on "Insectivorous Plants." The single New Zealand genus is the largest in the order, and has an almost world-wide distribution.