140 FLOWERS OF THE ROADSIDES AND HEDGES 
straggling plantations where there is a good deal of light than in 
dense woodlands where this is not the case. 
Perhaps to compete better with other deciduous herbaceous plants 
the Stitchworts have adopted the grass habit. The stem is more or 
less erect or ascending, prostrate at the base, and at the nodes is 
brittle, and hairy above, angular, the angles rough, slender. The 
stem is more stout upwards, and below is supported by surrounding 
herbage as a rule. The leaves are stalkless, rigid, united below, 
lance-shaped, with a long narrow point, fringed with hairs, narrow 
just above the base to an acute point. The margin is rough, toothed. 
The flowers are large, few, white, satiny, on slender ultimate stalks, 
in a panicled cyme, leafy. The bracts are leafy. The petals are half- 
divided to the base, and twice as long as the obscurely 3-veined or 
nerveless sepals. The flowers are rarely double, and the petals may 
be irregularly lobed. The capsule is round, as long as the calyx. 
Some petals may be wanting occasionally. Greater Stitchwort is 
known also as Satin flower. 
The flowers bloom from April to June. The plant is perennial, 
increasing by division. The height is 1-2 ft. 
The mode of pollination in the Greater Stitchwort is similar to 
that of the Grassy Stitchwort. The flowers are much more con- 
spicuous, however, and larger, though it is true that they grow less 
in the open, but they are visited by a variety of insects. The 
flowers are bisexual. The honey-glands are yellow. They lie on 
the external side of the outer stamens between the petals. There is 
a honey-pit above, and the glands yield abundant honey, which 
explains the frequency of insect visits. In the ordinary course the 
pollination takes place in three stages. The outer ring of stamens 
open, standing close to the centre of the flower, and turn the anthers 
upwards, while the inner stamens are not yet mature. The stigmas 
are bent inwards. In the second stage the inner stamens open, and by 
this time the outer have bent back and shrivelled. The stigmas are 
now erect, but the papillar surfaces are turned towards each other. In 
the third stage the stigmas are widespreading, and in this state the 
flower may be self-pollinated. But with insect visits, owing to the 
proterandrous conditions, the flower is usually cross-pollinated. 
The insects that visit it are Diptera (Empidz, Syrphidz, Muscidz), 
Hymenoptera (Apide, Tenthredinidz), Coleoptera, Gidemera, Lepi- 
doptera (Pzerzs nape), Thysanoptera (Zhrzs). 
Greater Stitchwort is dispersed by its own agency. The 6-valved 
capsules open when ripe, allowing dispersal by the wind. 
