RED BARTSIA 215 



Vetchling, Brambles, Bryony, in the hedge, Cow Parsnip, Hedge 

 Parsley, Cleavers, Hoary Ragwort, Wild Basil, Stinging Nettle, &c. 



A rather short, shrubby, branched plant, with an erect stem, and 

 widely spreading branches, Red Bartsia has often the same sort of 

 candelabra habit as Hedge Mustard. The stem is occasionally square, 

 roughly hairy. The leaves are long, lance-shaped, distantly coarsely 

 toothed, alternately opposite, stalkless, turned back, toothed, and 

 veined. The plant is a 

 hemi-parasite growing upon 

 the roots of grasses. 



The bracts or leaflike 

 organs are lance -shaped, 

 and exceed the flowers, 

 which are purplish -red or 

 pink, and borne in a pa- 

 nicled spike, which is clus- 

 tered, with flowers turned 

 all one way and nodding. 

 The sepals equal the tube, 

 4-5 mm. long, and are 4- 

 toothed, and acute. The 

 corolla is gaping, downy, 

 with a hollow oblong lower 

 lip, the upper divided into 

 3 segments. The capsule is 

 flat and oblong, with striate 

 white seeds. 



Red Bartsia is i ft. in 



height. The flowers open in July, and continue till September. This 

 plant is an annual propagated by seeds. 



The honey is secreted at the base of the smooth ovary, and pro- 

 tected from the rain by the 4 adhering anthers, which lie close 

 together and are clothed with hairs. Bees insert their probosces 

 between the less closely aggregated filaments of the stamens to reach 

 the honey, and in so doing they dust themselves with pollen, and 

 transfer some of it to the stigma. Two or three purple spots at the 

 bottom of the lower lip serve as honey-guides. The stamens all but 

 touch below, and are clothed with sharp points inside, but just below 

 the anthers they are smooth and further apart. Insects use the 3-lobed 

 underlip as a resting place. The stigma projects some distance beyond 

 the anthers in open sunny spots, but in shadier spots it hardly does so. 



Photo. Dr. Somerville Hastings 



RED BARTSIA (Bc.rtsta Odonft/es, Huds.) 



