56 



FIELD AND WOODLAND PLANTS 



lutea or Lamium Galeohdolon) of the same order is very much Uke 

 the White Dead Nettle (p. 102) in habit, but is rather more slender, 

 and less branched. It is not a very common plant, but is abundant 

 in certain localities, forming one of the conspicuous flowers of 

 thickets, copses and shady hedgerows during May and June. 

 Its leaves are opposite, stalked, ovate, acute, and coarsely toothed ; 

 and the handsome large yellow flowers are in dense whorls of from 

 six to ten in the axils of the upper leaves. The calyx has five short 



teeth ; and the corolla has a 

 short tube, not much longer 

 than the calyx, and two lii)s, 

 the upi^er of which is arched, 

 while the lower is spotted with 

 red, and has three lobes. 



Our next example, the lovely 

 Primrose {Primula vulgaris or 

 P. acaulis — order Primulacece) , 

 which so beautifully bedecks 

 oiu- woods and banks in Ajiril 

 and May, is so well known that 

 a description for puri:)Oses of 

 identification is quite un- 

 necessary. 



There are two distinct forms 



of the primrose flower, often 



called the pin-eyed and the 



tlirum-eyed, the two forms 



growing on different plants. 



The former has its stamens at a 



contracted portion of the tube, 



about half way down, and a 



style so long that the stigma is 



visible at the toj) of the tube. The latter has its stamens at the 



contracted throat of the tube, while the style is so short that the 



stigma is half-way down. 



These two forms may be termed the long-styled and the short- 

 styled primrose, respectively, and the difference is of great import- 

 ance, inasmuch as it helps to bring about the cross-fertilisation of 

 the flower. 



The principal agents concerned in the transfer of pollen from 

 one flower to another are the wind and insects, but it is evident that 



TSE Bugle. 



