18 FLOWERS OF THE FIELDS AND MEADOWS 



Ragged Robin (Lychnis Flos-cuculi, L.) 



This plant is found in older Glacial, Neolithic, and Roman deposits. 

 It is confined to the Cold North Temperate and Arctic Zones in Arctic 

 Europe and Siberia. The Ragged Robin is found in every county in 

 Great Britain, and in the Highlands at a height of 2000 ft. 



Almost every meadow, field, and pasture, especially those which 

 border marshy tracts or wet spongy ground on the sides of hills, is 

 made gay with the feathery pink petals of the Ragged Robin in 

 spring. It is especially fond of growing in the spongy, wet ground, 

 surrounding a pond where Marsh Orchis, Toad Rush, Horsetails, 

 Valerian, and other paludal species or marsh plants congregate. 



The tall, slender, erect, nearly angular, furrowed stems are ascend- 

 ing, and have swollen joints, and are covered with hairs bent down- 

 wards, being purple in colour. Ragged Robin has the radical leaves 

 blunt at the tip, with stalks, and narrow stem-leaves. The lower part 

 is clothed with bristles, the upper is clammy. 



The flowers are pink, and the petals divided into four parts, with an 

 appendage on the upper side at the base of the limb. The narrow 

 segments are erect and have a tooth on the outer margin. The 

 flowers are in a loose cluster. The calyx is purple and has ten ribs. 

 It is tubular and expanded. On the petals the hair is as long as that 

 on the calyx. The capsuie has five teeth bent inwards. There are 

 no divisions in the fruit, and the seeds when the capsule opens are 

 exposed to the wind. 



Ragged Robin is often 3 ft. high. This pretty plant may be found 

 in flower in May and June. It is perennial and increases by division. 



The honey is placed in a position in the flower which is inter- 

 mediate compared with the place of the honey-glands in Stellaria, 

 Cerastium, and Gypsophila, where the honey is easily accessible, and in 

 Dianthus and Saponaria, where it can only be reached by long-tongued 

 Lepidoptera. 



The nectaries unite in a fleshy ring round the ovary at the base 

 of the stamens. The calyx is only 6-7 mm. long, with teeth 3 mm., 

 which are erect, and support the claws or stalks of the petals. Insects 

 with a proboscis 9-10 mm. long can thus reach the honey, and those 

 with a proboscis can push the calyx-teeth to one side, whilst some 

 insects are small enough to creep down the tube. The anthers ripen 

 first. The five outer anthers open first and occupy the entrance to the 

 flower, their pollen-covered sides are turned towards each other, and 



