238 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



The male and female flowers are sometimes in 

 opposite axils. The male flowers have one stamen 

 with a long filament. The anther-stalk is very 

 slender. The female flowers consist of a nearly 

 stalkless ovary with two erect or bent-back styles. 

 The carpels have a shallow furrow which does not 

 extend to the base of the lobes. The fruit is longer 

 than broad, slightly keeled on the back, convex on 

 the side of each pair of lobes, and the keels are united 

 below for half their length. 



The flowers are to be found between May and 

 September. The plant is a herbaceous annual or 

 perennial. Starwort is submerged, growing to a 

 length of six inches to a foot in water. 



The flowers are unisexual. The plant is monoecious. 

 The stigma ripens before the stamen. Pollen is 

 carried by insects, wind, or water. The pollen grains 

 have no extine or outer coat, and float on the water. 

 The fruit is dispersed by water, and is a schizocarp, 

 each carpel splitting when ripe. 



Water Chickweed, Water Fennel are the only 

 other names for the plant. 



Callitriche verna. — The terminal rosette of leaves 

 is shown in Fig. 49, and also flowers in the axils of the 

 leaves lower down. 



31. The Purple Loosestrife Group. 



Few plants in the British Flora exceed the Purple 

 Loosestrife in beauty, and the method of pollination 



