334 The Romance of Wild Flowers 
‘the leaves working for bulb-renewal at the same time 
as the flowers are expanded. S. autumnalis flowers 
in July and August, when the pastures and rocky 
places it affects are dried up. This is not a good 
time for putting out its thread-like leaves, so it waits 
until the flowering is all over and the autumnal 
mists offer a better opportunity for their work. One 
other species of Squill is the favourite Blue-bell, or 
Wild Hyacinath (S. nutans), which differs from the 
others by its larger size and elongated bell-shape, the 
segments being united near the base. Both leaves 
and flowers are produced in spring. It is interesting 
to note the behaviour of the flowers in their various 
stages. When the scape appears from amid the leaf- 
rosette, the buds all stand erectly, and so continue until 
they open in turn, the lowest first, when they fall 
over on their foot-stalks and hang down to be out of 
the way of the flowers that yet need fertilisation. 
When fertilisation is completed, and the seeds are 
forming, the fruit begins to assume the position of 
the unopened bud, because the ripe capsule opens at 
the top. It would be too late for the capsule to erect 
itself after the seeds were ripe or nearly so, for by 
that time all the tissues have become dry and hard. 
The scape has lengthened considerably after flowering, 
and each of the capsules has become inflated and 
parchmenty. The small black seeds are loose within 
it, and as the wind blows or some animal brushes 
past, the scape springs back and forth with a jerk 
that sends a number of the seeds to a considerable 
distance. 
Of the three species of Star of Bethlehem, two 
have become naturalised in our copses here and there, 
