1 40 FLOWERS OF THE ROADSIDES AND HEDGES 



straggling plantations where there is a good deal of light than in 

 dense woodlands where this is not the case. 



Perhaps to compete better with other deciduous herbaceous plants 

 the Stitchworts have adopted the grass habit. The stem is more or 

 less erect or ascending, prostrate at the base, and at the nodes is 

 brittle, and hairy above, angular, the angles rough, slender. The 

 stem is more stout upwards, and below is supported by surrounding 

 herbage as a rule. The leaves are stalkless, rigid, united below, 

 lance-shaped, with a long narrow point, fringed with hairs, narrow 

 just above the base to an acute point. The margin is rough, toothed. 



The flowers are large, few, white, satiny, on slender ultimate stalks, 

 in a panicled cyme, leafy. The bracts are leafy. The petals are half- 

 divided to the base, and twice as long as the obscurely 3-veined or 

 nerveless sepals. The flowers are rarely double, and the petals may 

 be irregularly lobed. The capsule is round, as long as the calyx. 



Some petals may be wanting occasionally. Greater Stitchwort is 

 known also as Satin flower. 



The flowers bloom from April to June. The plant is perennial, 

 increasing by division. The height is 1-2 ft. 



The mode of pollination in the Greater Stitchwort is similar to 

 that of the Grassy Stitchwort. The flowers are much more con- 

 spicuous, however, and larger, though it is true that they grow less 

 in the open, but they are visited by a variety of insects. The 

 flowers are bisexual. The honey-glands are yellow. They lie on 

 the external side of the outer stamens between the petals. There is 

 a honey -pit above, and the glands yield abundant honey, which 

 explains the frequency of insect visits. In the ordinary course the 

 pollination takes place in three stages. The outer ring of stamens 

 open, standing close to the centre of the flower, and turn the anthers 

 upwards, while the inner stamens are not yet mature. The stigmas 

 are bent inwards. In the second stage the inner stamens open, and by 

 this time the outer have bent back and shrivelled. The stigmas are 

 now erect, but the papillar surfaces are turned towards each other. In 

 the third stage the stigmas are widespreading, and in this state the 

 flower may be self-pollinated. But with insect visits, owing to the 

 proterandrous conditions, the flower is usually cross-pollinated. 



The insects that visit it are Diptera (Empidae, Syrphidae, Muscidae), 

 Hymenoptera (Apidae, Tenthredinidae), Coleoptera, CEdemera, Lepi- 

 doptera (Pieris napes], Thysanoptera (T/irips). 



Greater Stitchwort is dispersed by its own agency. The 6-valved 

 capsules open when ripe, allowing dispersal by the wind. 



