e after being captured. There
does not appear to be here any actual digestion, but simply an
absorption of the products of decomposition, as in the pitcher-plant.
In the nearly related land form, _Pinguicula_, however, there is much
the same arrangement as in the sundew.

The family _Gesneraceae_ is mainly a tropical one, represented in the
greenhouses by the magnificent _Gloxinia_ and _Achimenes_, but of
native plants there are only a few parasitic forms destitute of
chlorophyll and with small, inconspicuous flowers. The commonest of
these is _Epiphegus_, a much-branched, brownish plant, common in
autumn about the roots of beech-trees upon which it is parasitic, and
whence it derives its common name, "beech-drops."

The bignonia family (_Bignoniaceae_) is mainly tropical, but in our
southern states is represented by the showy trumpet-creeper (_Tecoma_)
(Fig. 121, _A_), the catalpa, and _Martynia_.

The other plants likely to be met with by the student belong either to
the _Verbenaceae_, represented by the showy verbenas of the gardens,
and our much less showy wild vervains, also belonging to the genus
_Verbena_ (Fig. 121, _E_); or to the plantain family (_Plantagineae_),
of which the various species of plantain (_Plantago_) are familiar to
every one (Fig. 121, _G_, _I_). The latter seem to be forms in which
the flowers have become inconspicuous, and are wind fertilized, while
probably all of its showy-flowered relatives are dependent on insects
for fertilization.

The third order (_Contortae_) of the _Anisocarpae_ includes five
families, all represented by familiar forms. The first, the olive
family (_Oleaceae_), besides the olive, contains the lilac and jasmine
among cultivated plants, and the various species of ash (_Fraxinus_),
and the pretty fringe-tree (_Chionanthus_) (Fig. 122, _A_), often
cultivated for its abundant white flowers. The other families are the
_Gentianaceae_ including the true gentians (_Gentiana_) (Fig. 122,
_F_), the buck-bean (_Menyanthes_), the centauries (_Erythraea_ and
_Sabbatia_), and several other less familiar genera; _Loganiaceae_,
with the pink-root (_Spigelia_) (Fig. 122, _D_), as the best-known
example; _Apocynaceae_ including the dog-bane (_Apocynum_) (Fig. 122,
_H_), and in the gardens the oleander and periwinkle (_Vinca_).

[Illustration: FIG. 122.--_Anisocarpous sympetalae_ (_Contortae_). _A_,
flower of fringe-tree, _Chionanthus_ (_Oleaceae_), x 1. _B_, base of
the flower, w