CALYCIFLOR^ 223 



rooting, prostrate branches are produced ; and in 

 summer erect flowering branches, curved at the base. 

 The whole plant is quite devoid of hairs, but there 

 are generally a few glands. The leaves are spread- 

 ing, alternate, nearly cylindrical, or oblong to linear, 

 narrow at the base, bright green, blunt, flattened 

 above, scattered. 



The flowers are quite white (hence album), or 

 slightly pink, and are small and numerous, in smooth, 

 terminal cymes or corymbs, forming a much-branched 

 panicle-like inflorescence. The sepals are green, 

 short, blunt, and oval. The petals are small, oblong 

 to lanceolate, blunt, three times as long as the 

 sepals. The fruit is a follicle, with small seeds. 



June and July are the months in which to find the 

 White Stonecrop in flower. It is a herbaceous 

 perennial, 3 to 5 in. high. 



The anthers ripen before the stigmas and there is 

 every possibility of cross-pollination. The flowers, 

 moreover, contain honey, and, being somewhat con- 

 spicuous, may attract numerous insects. 



The follicle opens above and the seeds are dis- 

 persed by the wind. 



The Stonecrops are adapted, as has been noticed 

 above, to drought. The leaves are fleshy in order to 

 check too rapid transpiration, the volume being in 

 proportion greater than the surface. The fleshy 

 character is also useful as a means of laying up a 

 store of water. The liquid may also be of such a 

 nature that transpiration is retarded, resinous fluids 



