GAMOPETAL.E 327 



stalked, when dry with a lateral nerve each side of the 

 midrib (hence binervosum) , without spreading veins. 



The flowers are large, in compact spikes, the 

 branches spreading, ascending, the few lowest some- 

 times flowerless, the spikelets two- to four-flowered, 

 slender, erect, or ascending, overlapping, two-ranked. 

 The spikes are fewer and more distant than in the 

 common plant, and form a long panicle. The bracts 

 are green, and long. The scapes are slender, wavy, 

 forked. The inner bract is oval, with a broad mem- 

 branous border, deeply tinged with pink. 



There are no intermediate teeth in the calyx-lobes. 

 The fruit is a utricle, crowned with the persistent 

 calyx. 



This flower is in bloom in July and August. It is 

 a herbaceous perennial, sometimes a foot in height. 



Honey is secreted at the base of the flower. The 

 styles do not bear hairs to prevent the rain from 

 spoiling the honey. The flowers are conspicuous, 

 and have in general a floral mechanism like that of 

 Thrift adapted to cross-pollination, but self-pollina- 

 tion is possible. In some foreign species the flowers 

 are dimorphic, and heterostyly appears to be a device 

 here, as elsewhere, to ensure cross-pollination where 

 dichogamy is incomplete. 



The fruit is dispersed as in Sea Thrift by a para- 

 chute arrangement. 



LiMONiUM BiNERVOSUM. — Note in Fig. 73 the 

 rosette of leaves, and the long panicle of flowers with the 

 spikelets with flowers in a cincinnus. 



