GRASS OF PARNASSUS 13 



blunt sepals. The veined petals have a short claw, and the honey 

 is contained in fringed petal-like yellow scales or nectaries. There are 

 4 stigmas. The flower in sunshine is sweet-scented, but loses its scent 

 at night. The Grass of Parnassus is about 10 in. high at its best. It 

 is a late-flowering plant, blooming from August to October. The 

 plant is a deciduous, herbaceous perennial, increased by division. 



Only 5 anthers are borne on the 10 stamens, the others are melli- 

 ferous at the bottom, and are crowned by as many as 17 yellow 

 globular glands, resem- 

 bling honey, but dry. 

 They may serve to attract 

 flies. The immature an- 

 thers lie near the conical 

 ovary, which rises up in 

 the centre and overtops 

 them. They ripen first 

 successively, and elongat- 

 ing come to just above the 

 top of the stigma, with the 

 back to it, and open away 

 from it, and as each does 

 this another follows each 

 day, and afterwards the 

 stigmas on the sixth day 

 develop. The nectaries 

 are just opposite each petal, 

 alternate with the stamens, 

 and each is shortly stalked, 

 with a broad, fleshy disk, 

 secreting honey in two 

 hollow depressions, or on the inner side, and they leave it fully ex- 

 posed. The yellow-knobbed glandular bodies or staminodes surround 

 the base of the ovary, and render the nectaries conspicuous, but 

 they are dry though they look like drops of liquid, and flies are 

 deceived by it, the smaller travelling round the flower, the larger 

 resting in the middle, dusting their sides with pollen in younger 

 flowers, cross-pollinating older ones if they pass out to them. The 

 visitors are Eristalis, Helophilus, Syrphus, Melanostoma, Mclithreptus, 

 Syritta, Sarcophaga, Pollenia, Tipula, Tenthredo, Ichneumonids, Pem- 

 p/iiltts, Gorytes, Coccinella. 



The capsule is many-seeded, and is membranous, allowing the 



Photo. Flatters & Garnett 



GRASS OF PARNASSUS (Parnassia pahistris, L.) 

 (probably var. condensata, Wheldon and Travis) 



