136 FLOWERS OF THE CORNFIELDS 



Montgomery, Merioneth, Pembroke, N. Lines, Cumberland, Isle of 

 Man, Dumfries, Wigtown, Selkirk, Stirling, Mid and N. Perth, Can- 

 tire, S. Ebudes, N. Ebudes, Orkneys, but elsewhere it is general from 

 Moray to the English Channel, and in the Highlands grows at a 

 height of 1000 ft. By Watson it was considered a colonist. 



Bluebottle is a cornfield plant, always coming up spontaneously in 

 cultivated fields, or on waste ground, or in gardens, being associated 

 with such plants as Stork's Bill, Common Melilot, Chicory, Viper's 

 Bugloss, Yellow Toadflax, and other casuals. 



Apart from its lovely flowers, Bluebottle has a characteristic habit. 

 It is an erect plant, with the stem repeatedly dividing, and thus 

 inversely triangular in outline. The stems are slightly angular, and 

 densely cottony and hollow. The stem-leaves are alternate, stalkless, 

 linear, with several nerves, acute, the radical leaves broader, and more 

 blunt, often deeply divided, covered like the stem with a web of cotton. 



The flowers are of a deep blue, on simple flower-stalks with dark 

 threadlike anthers. The whorl of leaflike organs has notched leaves 

 fringed with hairs, narrowly elliptical, and overlapping semi-transparent 

 margins which run back. The hair is shorter than the fruit. There 

 are scales in the receptacle. 



The stem is 1-3 ft. high. The Corn-flower is in flower in June 

 and up till August or September. It may be annual or biennial and 

 reproduced by seed. It is worth cultivating, and is indeed a garden 

 plant. 



The plant is downy, but the involucres forming the flowerhead are 

 bordered with turned-back teeth, which serve as a chevaux de /rise 

 to exclude ants. There are no prickles on the stem and leaves. The 

 ray florets are neuter. The anther-stalks of the stamens are able to 

 contract, so that the anther -cylinder is drawn down 2-3 mm. and 

 slowly up to 4-6 mm., returning to their original position in ten 

 minutes. They lose the power of contraction when the stigmas are 

 ripe. The ray florets are large and funnel-shaped, and radiate out- 

 wards, attracting insects, and make the width of the flower head 

 20-50 mm. On the opening of the flower the pollen lies between the 

 pistil and the hood which the anther -heads form. The stamens are 

 sensitive and contract when touched, so that they expose the pollen. 

 The hairs are the sensitive portions. The stigmas later open and curl 

 over, and the flower is bound to be pollinated. 



Honey can easily be reached, for the flower is wider for 3 mm. 

 above the narrow tubular part, up to the point where it is divided 

 into narrow linear segments, and pollination is largely simultaneous. 



