io6 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



the South and in the North, as in Yorkshire. It also 

 occurs in the dwarf willow association and the grass- 

 land association in the sand-dune formation. In 

 inland habitats it also occurs in waste places, as 

 on railway banks with other chalk plants, as 

 Anthyllts, etc. 



Yellow-wort has an erect rosette habit. There 

 are several stems, square in section, from one root. 

 They are erect and rigid, and are, like the leaves, 

 bluish-green. The radical leaves are blunt, inversely 

 ovate to spoon-shaped, and form a tuft or rosette, 

 spreading, whilst those on the stem are in distant 

 pairs, and are ovate, acute, and united below, enve- 

 loping the stem. 



The flowers are yellow, numerous, in loose, termi- 

 nal cymes. The corolla is more or less wheel-shaped, 

 with blunt lobes. The eight sepals are filiform, lance- 

 shaped, awl-like. There are eight stamens. The 

 ovary is many-seeded. The style is persistent, and 

 the stigma three-lobed. The capsule ruptures the 

 tube, when ripe. 



Yellow-wort is four inches to a foot or more 

 in height. The flowers bloom between June and 

 September. The plant is a herbaceous annual. 



The flowers are conspicuous, but do not contain 

 honey. They close up at night and in dull weather. 

 Insects are prevented from climbing up the stem 

 by^the perfoliate leaves. The stigma ripens before 

 the anthers, and the flowers are adapted to cross- 

 pollination. 



