86 



FLOWERS OF THE WOODS AND COPSES 



leaf-stalks, oblong, heart-shaped, scalloped, blunt, sparsely hairy, the 

 stem-leaves opposite, narrower, saw-like, turned back, with a turned- 

 back margin. 



The flowers are in terminal spikes, oblong, purple, stalkless, in 

 whorls, and the bracts or leaflike organs are as long as the calyx, 

 which is shaggy within, with long teeth. The corolla has a projecting 

 tube, incurved below. The nutlets (4) are three-sided and smooth. 

 Wood Betony is 2 ft. high. The flowers bloom in July and August. 



The plant is perennial and 

 propagated by division. 



The flowers are proteran- 

 drous, that is, the anthers ripen 

 first, or they may be homo- 

 gamous, the stigmas ripening 

 at the same time. The pistil 

 is short at first but lengthens 

 when the anthers have opened. 

 The tube of the corolla is 7 mm. 

 long, smooth inside where the 

 honey is secreted, lined above 

 with erect hairs. The corolla, 

 where included in the calyx, 

 is narrow, directed obliquely 

 upwards, but horizontal beyond 

 the calyx, and is constantly 

 2 mm. wide, the under lip is 

 divided into three half-way, 

 acting as an alighting place, 

 and the tip is narrowed. The 

 tube is short, so that the en- 

 trance is not wide at the mouth, and the tube is curved like a bee's 

 proboscis. The anthers bearing white beads on their surface open 

 when the flower expands, the stigmas are between them and just 

 behind the short anthers. The divisions of the style are widely 

 spreading, and covered with warts. The style lengthens the wider 

 the anthers spread, and overtops the shorter ones in the process, be- 

 coming smeared with pollen, but at length exceeds them, and is first 

 touched by visitors with pollen from another flower, which is prepotent 

 over its own pollen, though it can effectively pollinate itself. 



The flowers are visited by Volucella bombylans, Eristalis korticola^ 

 Zygcena Ionic e res. 



Photo. Dr. Son 



ille Hastings 



WOOD BETONY (Stachys officinalis, Trev.) 



