134 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



it is probabl}^ native, and chalk scrub, with Woody 

 Nightshade and Black Solanum. It occurs in old 

 quarries and in parks, and around ruins, and other 

 places where it is dispersed by artificial agency. 



The habit is erect, branching. The plant is smooth, 

 glandular, or downy. The rootstock is stout, fleshy 

 and stoloniferous. The stem is stout and herbaceous. 

 The leaves are stalked, large, in unequal pairs, ovate, 

 entire, a smaller one arising from the axil. 



The flowers are axillary, solitary, borne on short 

 flower-stalks. They are lurid purple, greenish below, 

 drooping. The sepals are broadly ovate. The five 

 corolla-segments are broad and short, spreading, blunt, 

 nearly equal. The anther-stalks are distinct, nearly 

 equal, with the anthers included, and pale. The fruit is 

 a round, large, violet-black berry, obscurely two-lobed. 



The plant is 2-3 ft. in height. It is in flower in 

 June, July, and August, and the plant is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



The flowers contain honey secreted at the base 

 of the ovar}^ which is protected by the drooping 

 habit and hairs on the stamens. The stigma pro- 

 jects further than the stamens. The stigma ripens 

 before the anthers, as soon as the flower opens. At 

 this stage the anthers are immature, and the stalks 

 are geniculate, but they lengthen later, though they 

 never exceed the stigma, so that there is not much 

 chance of the plant being self-pollinated. The 

 flowers are adapted to humble bees. 



The berries are dispersed by birds. 



