SLEEPY CATCHFLY 



Silene antirrhina L. 



June Oil the dry sunny slope at the top of the field, there 



Sunny slopes w lioro the fence protects many plants which grow and 

 l)l(>oni in the Juno sunsliino. tlicrc are thin, wiry plants, 

 two feet tall or so, which o])on tiny pinkish-wliitc ilowers on a bright day. 

 The flowers are very small lor a plant so large, yet the whole tiling is 

 not coarse, as so many sununor ])lants are, hut has the wiry attenuation 

 of a compact ]ilant irrowu spindling. This is sloc])y catchlly. a member vi 

 the Pink iiunily. 



The little stany llowcrs open aliovo a large, stiff, somewhat inflated 

 calyx, which stands erect on the stem. Th(> leaves are narrow and tapeivd, 

 opposite on tlio jointed stem. And this is tiie curious thing about the 

 sleepy catchlly. On that sK-nder stem there are patches of bruwn stieky 

 .stuff which serve to ])revent ants from crawling up the stem to reach 

 the flowers — a natural flyj)aj)cr or "tanglefoot" whiih .senes the same 

 purjioso as bands of a similar substame ))ut around the trunks of trees. 



The flowers of sleepy catchfly are pollinated by Hying insects; ants 

 are forbidden. The flowers open only for a short while during a sunny 

 day and usually are closed by noon, hence the connnon name of sleei)y 

 catchfly. There among the tall grasses and coarser weeds the slim stems 

 of the catchlly live out their lives, blossom brielly, nuike inflated pods 

 of seeds, scatter them, disappear. And on the dead brown stalks on a 

 winter day one may still see the inflated calyces and sticky patches on 

 the stems. 



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