156 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



shaped. The tube of the corolla is straight and 

 horizontal, with the lips closed, the lower one pro- 

 jecting. The capsule is ovoid, turned down. The 

 seeds are oblong. 



The plant is 6 in. to ij ft. in height, usually not 

 more than a foot. It flowers between May and 

 September, and is a herbaceous annual like the other 

 hemiparasites. 



Though small, the flowers are conspicuous. The 

 tube is long, and honey can be reached by long- 

 lipped bees, humble bees. Other bees bite through 

 the corolla to get at it. The anthers touch at the 

 margin and form a pollen-box with teeth, below which 

 the bee moves and so releases the pollen. The stigma 

 projects and if insects do not visit the flower the style 

 bends down and the anthers shed pollen on the 

 stigma. Nectar is continuously secreted and sought 

 out by the ants. 



The seeds resemble ant chrysalises and may be 

 dispersed by ants. 



A general name for the Cow-wheat is Black Corn. 



Melampyrum pratense. — In Fig. 45 note the 

 general habit of the plant, the spreading, opposite branches, 

 the linear lance-shaped or ovate leaves, the flowers in pairs 

 in the axils. 



56. The Broom Rape Group. 



Of the Order Orobanchaceae there are about a 

 hundred and twenty-five species, which are arranged 

 in some twelve genera. There are about ten British 



