246 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



simple or a little branched, round in section, not 

 angular, and hairless or sometimes hoary. The 

 leaves are mainly opposite, without hairs, or the edges 

 and veins downy, oblong to ovate, acute, with a 

 rounded base, toothed, usually stalkless, but some- 

 times stalked. Occasionally the leaves may be in 

 whorls of three. 



The buds are ovoid, drooping, or erect. The 

 flowers are pale purple or white. The sepals are 

 lance-shaped, and the calyx crowns the downy ovary, 

 which tapers into a stalk below. The petals are 

 twice as long as the sepals, or equal when deeply 

 notched. The stigma is four-cleft, the lobes oblong, 

 spreading, not turned back. The capsule is finely 

 downy, the seeds tubercular, oblong, blunt both ends, 

 or narrowed below. 



The flowers are in bloom in June and July. The 

 plant is a herbaceous perennial and 6 in. to 2 ft. in 

 height. 



The stigma and anthers ripen at the same time. 

 The flowers do not open wide. Honey is secreted 

 on the summit of the ovary. When it is wet the 

 ovary is drooping and the petals close so that pollen 

 and honey are protected from the rain. The anthers 

 open close around the stigma when the latter is ripe 

 so that self-pollination is possible. But the flowers 

 are visited by insects so that there are equal chances 

 of cross-pollination. 



The capsule splits open from above downwards 

 between the valves and along the centre of each, the 



