CARYOPHYLLEAE 163 



406. S. viridiflora L. According to Kerner, the flowers exhale an odour of 

 hyacinths at night. 



Visitors. The species appears to be moth-pollinated. Schletterer observed 

 the bee Halictus patellatus Mor. at Pola. 



407. S. Otites Sm. (Herm. Muller, Weit. Beob.,' IT, p. 234; Schulz, 'Bei- 

 trage,' I, p. 78; Verhoeff, 'Bl. u. Insekt. a. d. Ins. Norderney'; Knuth, 'Bl. u. 

 Insekt. a. d. nordfr. Ins.,' pp. 39-40, 151, ' Weit. Beob. ii. Bl. u. Insekt. a. d. nordfr. 

 Ins./ p. 232.) The plant is almost dioecious (entirely so in the island of Rom). 

 The male blossoms are much more numerous than the female ones, while hermaphro- 

 dite flowers occur occasionally. The petals only project 2-3 mm. beyond the calyx 

 which is 4 mm. long within which they are almost entirely concealed in female 

 flowers from some localities. Nectar is secreted and concealed in the base of the 

 flower. The nectaries of the male flowers are non-functional in Central Germany ; 

 those of the female flowers in the same region are not accessible to insects in the 

 normal way, owing to the closeness of the calyx to the ovary (Schulz). In the North 

 Frisian island of Rom, and in the Tyrol, both kinds of flower secrete nectar, which 

 is accessible to and secured by insects. It would appear, therefore, as if the flowers 

 were in part anemophilous, and in part entomophilous. Of the ten stamens of the 

 male flower, only the five of the outer whorl at first mature, at the same time pro- 

 jecting 3-4 mm. beyond the calyx-tube. They are afterwards replaced by the five 

 stamens of the inner whorl. In the female flower the stigma also projects a few mm. 

 We must suppose that, even in these nectar-producing flowers, wind is the chief 

 pollinating agent, for none of the female flowers I observed in the island of Rom 

 remained unfertilized, in spite of the very limited number of insect visitors. This is 

 confirmed by the great preponderance of male flowers. The hermaphrodite flowers 

 are distinctly protandrous. The plant is usually protected against creeping insects 

 by a sticky stem. 



Visitors. I observed 4 nectar-sucking Lepidoptera in the North Frisian 

 Islands, i.e. Epinephele janira Z., Coenonympha pamphilus Z., Plusia gamma Z., 

 and Zygaena filipendulae Z.; and also a few Hemiptera, vainly seeking for nectar. 

 Verhoeff saw Plusia gamma Z., skg., on Norderney. Herm. Muller noticed fossorial 

 wasps Cerceris variabilis Schr. 5 and J, and Philanthus triangulum F. t> nect. skg., 

 at Kitzingen. 



408. S. gallica L. 



Visitors. Buddeberg observed a small po-cltg. bee, Halictus smeathma- 

 nellus K. $ (Herm. Muller, 'Weit. Beob.,' II, p. 235). 



409. S. Saxifraga L. (= S. petraea Waldst. et Kit.). Lalanne (Justs bot. 

 Jahresber., Leipzig, xvi, 1888, p. 563) states that sometimes the ovaries, sometimes 

 the anthers are vestigial. Kerner describes the plant as trioecious, with strongly pro- 

 tandrous hermaphrodite flowers, that only open in the evening between eight and 

 nine o'clock. 



Visitors. These are apparently moths. 



410. S. rupestris L. (Herm. Muller, ' Alpenblumen,' pp. 193-4; Schulz, 

 ' Beitrage,' II, pp. 29-30.) The hermaphrodite flowers are protandrous, but the 



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