inte The Romance of Wild Flowers 
and has retained its liking for cross-fertilisation, 
therefore its five petals are pure white, twice the 
length of the sepals, and divided at the tip to give 
greater prominence to the flowers; but in the absence 
of insects it fertilises itself. These differences within 
the limits of a small genus are very instructive, and 
in the next genus we meet with very similar 
examples. 
The Chickweeds, or Stitchworts (Stellaria), include 
several well-known species, the most conspicuous 
being the Greater Stitchwort (S. holostea), which 
always gives joy to the flower-lover in spring who 
comes across its large pure white blossoms in the 
hedgerow, as represented in the plate. Until the 
flowers open it might pass with the ordinary 
rambler as a grass, so slender are its glaucous leaves 
and brittle jointed stems that have to lean against 
other plants for support. Jt has a perennial root- 
stock, and it holds its place in these crowded situa- 
tions by having adopted the grass-like form of leaves 
and stems, which enable it to fill up gaps where 
plants with broader, more spreading leaves would be 
starved. The petals are divided at the end into two 
lobes similar to those of the Campions, but the sepals 
are quite separate, instead of being united into a 
strong tube. There are ten stamens, and these mature 
in two sets of five, just as we saw in the Pinks 
(Dianthus): the first five erect themselves until they 
occupy the centre of the flower, and as they wither 
the second set succeeds them. Just before all their 
pollen is shed, the stigmas mature, curl over towards 
the anthers, and should no butterfly or moth come 
along with pollen from another flower, self-fertilisa- 
