CORN-FLOWER OR BLUEBOTTLE 



137 



There are few florets in the disk or centre, and the anther-cylinders 

 project at distant points. On an insect touching- them the anther- 

 stalks contract, and the cylinder is depressed. A mass of pollen quickly 

 emerges from the upper opening of the cylinder, and the style is 

 projected 3-4 mm. beyond it. The Honey Bee, Bombus silvarum, 

 Megachile, Psammophila, Diptera, Empis livida, Eristalis arbustorum, 

 Rhingia rostrata, and the Silver Y Moth (Plusia gamma] visit it. 



The pappus, which is 

 shorter than the fruits, assists 

 in dispersing- the smooth 

 achenes by the wind. 



Corn-flower is a sand 

 plant growing in sand soil, 

 or sandy, gravelly beds, often 

 on the chalk, where there is 

 gravel and sand at the top. 



The leaves are liable to 

 attack by a clustercup fungus, 

 Puccinia suaveolens. 



A moth, Depressaria 

 liturella, and a fly, Trypeta 

 colon, are found on it. 



Centaurea, Pliny, is from 

 Centaur, in heathen my- 

 thology half-man, half-horse. 

 Centaury helped to cure 

 Chiron when one of Her- 

 cules's arrows entered his 

 foot. The name was also 

 Chironion. Chiron was 



versed in the knowledge of herbs. Cyanus, Pliny, is from the Greek 

 cyanos, blue. 



Bluebottle is called Bachelor's Buttons, Witch Bells, Blaver, Blave- 

 role, Blawort, Blue Blawort, Blewball, Blewblow, Blue-blaw, Blue-caps, 

 Blue-bottle, Blue-bonnets, Blue Poppy, Break-your-Spectacles, Brushes, 

 Corn Centaury, Corn-binks, Corn-bottle, Corn-flower, Cuckoo-hood, 

 Hawdod, Hurt-sickle, Knobweed, Knotweed, Loggerheads, Thumble, 

 Witches' Thimble. 



" Gay lark-heels soon, and Bottles will o'er run 

 The fields with numerous crops tho' never sown." 



As to the name Hurt-sickle, Turner says: "Some herbaries call it 



Photo. Dr. Somerville Hastings 



CORN-FLOWERS (Centaurea Cyanus, L.) 



