GRASSY STITCHWORT 71 



is cleared off by the disk. When insects do not visit it the stigmatic 

 lobe bends down, and self-pollination usually results. 



The fruit is dispersed by the agency of the wind. The capsules are 

 flattened, notched and margined, and light, so that they can be blown 

 by the wind, while the seeds are downy. 



Milkwort is a sand-loving plant and flourishes mainly on a sand 

 soil, but may be found also where some amount of humus has collected, 

 and, like other ericetal species, is partly a peat-loving plant. 



The Lepidoptera Penipelia palumbella, Protkymia viridaria feed 

 on Milkwort. 



The name Polygala, given by Dioscorides, from the Greek polus, 

 much, gala, milk, was given in reference to a supposed property it had 

 of increasing milk as a meadow plant, and the second (Latin) name in 

 reference to its universal occurrence. 



Milkwort is called Cross-flower, Four Sisters, Gang Flower, 

 Procession Flower, Robin's Eye, Rogation Flower. Gerarde says it is 

 called Milkwort on account of its " vertues in procuring milke in the 

 brests of nurses ". It was carried in processions on Rogation Days 

 (hence names), and Gerarde says: "The maidens which use in the 

 countries to walke the procession do make themselves garlands and 

 nosegaies of the Milkwort". 



It has been used to promote expectoration, as a bitter infusion it 

 was used for coughs, and the root when powdered has been applied in 

 cases of pleurisy. The plant is ornamental, and some varieties bloom 

 in winter. Some are greenhouse plants, and all free-flowering and 

 handsome in colouring. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



45. Polygala vulgaris, L. Stem ascending, simple, leaves scattered, 

 radical, smaller, oblong, upper linear-lanceolate, flowers blue, pink, 

 white, in raceme, lower petal crested calyx wings with veins branched. 



Grassy Stitchwort (Stellaria graminea, L.) 



The Grassy Stitchwort has been found in deposits of Roman age. 

 At the present day it is found in Arctic Europe, Siberia, Western Asia, 

 as far as the Himalayas. It is common in every county in Great 

 Britain except North Ebudes and the Hebrides. In Yorkshire it 

 grows at an altitude of 1500 ft. 



The Grassy Stitchwort is to be found on dry pastures and hedge- 

 banks, usually where there is or has been a heath, for it is a strictly 

 ericetal species, associated with such plants as Furze and Broom, Tor- 



