132 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



opens by five teeth, being one-celled, with a very 

 short carpophore. There are five styles. 



The Ragged Robin flowers in May and June. It is 

 a herbaceous perennial, which is from i to 2 ft. high. 



The flowers contain honey, secreted by the base 

 of the stamens, the honey-glands forming a fleshy 

 ring. The anthers ripen before the stigma, the five 

 outer ones maturing first, and opening inwards. The 

 calyx-tube is 6-7 mm. long and the erect teeth are 

 3 mm. long, supporting the claws of the petals. 

 Insects with a proboscis of 9-10 mm. long can reach 

 the honey. 



The tube is wide enough for a butterfly to pass its 

 tongue down, but the anthers fill up the cavity, and 

 thus usually dust the insect's tongue with pollen. 

 When the outer stamens lengthen they bend outwards 

 between adjacent petals ; the inner stamens take their 

 place in the entrance to the flower. After they 

 wither the styles lengthen, and the stigmatic papillae 

 which cover the inner side of the stigma become 

 receptive. The styles equal the corolla and are 

 spirally twisted at the end (one and a half to two 

 turns), and thus present a wide front to a visiting 

 bee, butterfly, or fly. 



The capsule is a ** censer fruit," and the seeds are 

 blown out when the stalk is agitated by the wind or 

 by passing animals. 



Ragged Robin is called Bachelor's Buttons, 

 Meadow Campion, Cock's-caim, Cock's-comb, Crow- 

 flower, Cuckoo, Cuckoo-flower, Fair Maid of France, 



