SMALL PERIWINKLE 73 



would become smeared with a sticky substance to which pollen would 

 adhere, and this would be transferred in the next flower to the stig- 

 matic disk. The flowers are conspicuous. There is abundant honey, 

 which attracts numerous insects when it is fine. The tube of the 

 corolla is 1 1 mm. long, but enlarged so that insects can insert their 

 heads as far as the anther-hairs. The two yellow nectaries at the 

 base of the ovary are 8 mm. below, and protected from rain by the 

 hairs at the entrance. 



Photo. B. Hanley 



SMALL PERIWINKLE (Vinca minor, L.) 



The stamens are bent, attached half-way up the tube. The anthers 

 project above the stigma, which is conical, enlarged above with a flat 

 plate at the top, sticky along the rim, hairy above. The pollen falls 

 above the latter. Insects sipping the honey carry off the pollen to 

 fresh stigmas. 



The Lesser Periwinkle is visited by Bombus, Anthophora, Osinia, 

 Bombylius discolor, Thysanoptera, Thrips. 



The fruit is a follicle, which is rare. It is adapted for dispersal of 

 the seeds by the wind, the seeds being compressed, winged, and pro- 

 vided with hairs. 



This plant is a humus-loving plant, growing in a humus soil, in 

 or near woods. 



Two moths, Daphnia nerii (Oleander Hawk-moth), Clouded 

 Bordered Brindle ( Triphana janthina), feed upon it. 



