THE FIELD GENTIAN 



55 



Both are much-branched plants bearing many 

 flowers, as a rule, and the sepals and petals are only 

 four and not five in number in each case, a character 

 which easily distinguishes them 

 from the other Alpine Gentians. 



The Field Gentian. 



The Field Gentian {Gentiana 

 campestris, Linn.) (Plate X., Fig. 

 2) is a many - flowered annual 

 plant, with a rather peculiar 

 calyx. Two of the sepals are 

 much broader than the other 

 pair. 



The blue fringe of scales at 

 the mouth of the corolla is very 

 conspicuous, and is deeply cut 

 into long, narrow segments 

 (Text-fig. III). Its probable 

 object is to keep out "unbidden 

 guests" — that is, certain small 

 insects, especially creeping in- 

 sects, which might visit the flower 

 in search of honey or pollen, 

 but are of no service to tlie plant as cross-pollinators. 

 The flower is specially adapted to bees and butterflies, 

 which alone are powerful enough to force aside the 

 fringe closing the throat of the corolla, and possess a 

 sufficiently long proboscis or tongue to reach the honey 

 secreted by the nectaries at the base of the corolla 



Fig. III.— The Flower of the 

 Field Gentian (Gentiana 

 campestria, Linn.). 



Showing tlie scale-like out- 

 growths from the throat 

 of the corolla. Magnified 

 3 times. 



