1 74 FLOWERS OF THE SEA-COAST 



they form a conspicuous head. The petals form a tube by being 

 enclosed by the sepals. The stalks of the petals, the stamens, and 

 pistil are yellowish-green before they turn violet. 



The anthers are yellow. Below the longer stamens are two round 

 honey glands, which are large and green in colour. Two smaller ones 

 lie at the base of the shorter stamens. The anthers in the longer 

 stamens lie between knoblike extremities, perhaps helping to guide 



the insect's proboscis. The 

 stigma is ripe first when the 

 flower expands, and is over- 

 topped by the longer stamens. 

 The honey is attractive to 

 the larvae of a beetle (Meli- 

 gethes], and they may help 

 to cross-pollinate the flower. 

 The flowers are large 

 and conspicuous, white, with 

 the longer anther-stalks 

 notched. The habitat being 

 maritime the plant is not 

 open to insect visits in great 

 numbers, and self-pollination 

 becomes a necessity. 



The fruit of Sea Kale is 

 dispersed by its own agency. 

 The pods do not open to let 

 the single seeds fall out, but 

 drop off, and the seeds ger- 

 minate around the parent 

 plant. The pods are appa- 

 rently stalked, the lower joint being without seeds and serving as a 

 stalk to the upper, i -celled and I -seeded. 



The plant is a halophyte or salt-lover growing in saline soil on 

 the coast, and under cultivation in rich mould. 

 A beetle, Psylliodes marcida, is found on it. 



The name Crambe, Greek for Kale, was given by Hippocrates, and 

 maritima (Latin) refers to its habitat. 



Sea Kale is called Sea Cabbage, -Sea Cale, Sea Cole, Sea Cole- 

 wort, Sea Kale. 



It is cut by the people on the coast in the west of England, and 

 used like asparagus, the young shoots being boiled. People watch 



Dr. Somerville Hastings 



SEA KALE (Crambe maritima, L.) 



