196 



FLOWERS OF THE SEA-COAST 



Centaury is a short, erect plant, repeatedly dividing into two above, 

 with a single stem below, square -stalked, with oblong egg-shaped, 

 lance-shaped leaves, with numerous parallel veins, and smooth, the 

 upper leaves acute. There are numerous radical leaves. 



The flower is red or pink, with two kinds of style, and borne in a 

 panicled corymb of flowers, open in fine weather only. The flowers 

 are nearly stalkless. The calyx, 5 -fid, is less than the corolla, which is 



tubular, and the flowering 

 stems are repeatedly divided. 

 The 5 lobes of the corolla 

 are oval. The lateral flowers 

 are stalked, or stalkless be- 

 tween two floral leaves. The 

 capsule is slender. 



The plant is about 6 in. 

 to a foot in height. The 

 flowers bloom in July and 

 August, lasting 4 or 5 days, 

 and are open from 5-7 a.m. 

 up till midday, closing if it 

 rains. It is a deciduous, 

 herbaceous plant, propagated 

 by seed. 



The anthers and stigma 

 are mature at the same time, 

 and the flower is somewhat 

 heterostylic, with pollen of 

 different sizes. The flowers 

 contain no honey, but are 

 visited by Lepidoptera. The 



spiral stamens, like the twisting of the stigma in Sileneae (which are 

 pollinated by Lepidoptera), seem to be an adaptation to secure its 

 being touched by the thin proboscis. At first the stamens and pistil 

 are far apart, but approach later. Probably some soft tissue is pierced 

 by the insect with the sharp points at the tip of the proboscis to get at 

 the sweet sap. The flower is visited by the Humming-bird Hawk 

 Moth, Macroglossa stellatarum, Agrotis pronuba, and other Lepido- 

 ptera, Bees, and by the Dipterous Empis. 



The capsule is divided by septa, and when ripe the parts break 

 away and fall around the parent plant, allowing the seeds to 

 escape. 



Photo. Dr. Somerville Hastings 



CENTAURY (Centaurium iimbellatum, Gilib.) 



