220 FLOWERS OF THE ROADSIDES AND HEDGES 



in whorls, three on a flower-stalk, with a general involucre of awl-like 

 bracts or leaflike organs. The calyx is tubular, with short curved- 

 back teeth. The corolla is gaping, with an erect upper lip, blunt, 

 notched. The lower lip is larger, spreading, in three segments, with 

 three purple spots. The creeping runners put forth in summer flower 

 the next year, and survive the winter. The nutlets (4) are oval and 

 contained in the calyx. 



Ground Ivy is about 6 in. to i ft. high in flower. The flowers are 

 in bloom between March and May. The plant is perennial, propagated 

 by division. 



The flowers are proterandrous, and the larger are hermaphrodite, 

 the smaller female, with a tube 6^-8 mm. long, which is 1^-2^ mm, 

 wide in front. In the former it is 9-16 mm. (or 14-16 usually), and 

 2^-4^ mm. wide in front. The tube is lined below with stiff hairs. 

 As many as 86 per cent of the flowers have been found to be female 

 in one locality, and 24 per cent later on; in a second year in the same 

 district the proportion was 50 per cent and 28 per cent. The honey 

 in the female flowers can be reached by all humble bees, and the 

 widened mouth in the longer flowers enables all but Bombus terrestris 

 to obtain honey. The larger flowers are visited first, and frequently 

 cross-pollination is ensured by the hermaphrodite flowers. 



Visits are paid by Bombus, Apis mellifica, Anthophora, Osmia, 

 Nomada, Andrena, Halictus, Bombylius, Rhingia, Eristalis, Cabbage 

 White Butterfly (Pieris brassiccz), and the Humming-bird Hawk 

 Moths (Macroglossa fuciformis] and M. stellatarum. 



The nutlets are smooth, and when ripe fall out around the parent 

 plant. 



Being a sand- loving plant, Ground Ivy delights in a sand soil, 

 but it is also found on clay soil 



The plant is often galled by Aulax Glechomce and Cecidomyia 

 bursiiria. A fungus, Puccima glechomatis, attacks the leaves. A 

 beetle, Longitarsus abdominalis, a moth, Coleophora albitarsella, and 

 a Homopterous insect, Eiipteryx pictus, are found upon it. 



Nepeta, Pliny, is from Nepi, a town in Italy, whilst the second 

 Latin name refers to its ivy-like, trailmg habit. 



Ground Ivy is called Alehoof, Allhoove, Allhose, Alliff, Bird's-eye, 

 Blue Runner, Cat's-foot, Deceivers, Devil's Candlesticks, Fat Hen, 

 Foalfoot, Folesfoth, Cell, Gill, Gill Hen, Gill-go-by-ground, Ground- 

 avey, Ground Ivy, Hayhofe, Haymaiden, Hay-maids, Hedge-maids, 

 Heihow, Hen and Chickens, Heyhove, Hove, Jenny-run-ith-ground, 

 Jill, Lion's Mouth, Lizzy-run-the-hedge, Maiden-hair, Mould, Nip, 



