THE FLOWERS OF THE WAYSIDE 



19 



goes on till ]\Iay or June, while the Wild 

 Strawberry is seldom found tilossoming 

 before May, and continues more or less 

 throughout the summer. 



THE GREATER STITCH- 

 WORT. 



Towards the end of 

 April, the Greater 

 Stitchwort, or Starwort 

 {Stellaria Holostca) 

 begins to put forth its 

 white, starry blossoms. 

 This plant is one of 

 the Pink family [Carv- 

 ophyUaccce), the mem- 

 bers of which are herl^s 

 having round, jointed 

 stems, with a thickening 

 at the junctions, called 

 nodes ; the leaves are 

 arranged in pairs, 

 situated opposite each 

 other, with smooth 

 edges. If you look 

 carefully into a Stitch- 

 wort blossom, you will 

 see that there are five 

 green sepals, five deeply 

 divided white petals, 

 ten stamens, and three 

 styles. (A style is the 

 stem of the pistil, the 

 female portion of the 

 flower ; at the base of 

 the style is the ovary.) 

 Some of the members of 

 the Pink family have 

 their different parts 

 arranged in fours, in- 

 stead of in fives ; but 

 in all of them the 

 petals possess a broad blade, while 

 the lower portion is narrowed down 

 to what is termed a " claw." In the 

 Stellaria five of the stamens become elon- 

 gated soon after the flower opens, and 

 incline towards the centre, so as to be 

 well in the way of the body of any insect 

 flying on to it in search of honey ; these 

 wither, and then the second set of five 

 stamens mature. In the third stage the 



l)istils rise and expand their sticky, sen- 

 sitive surfaces (called the stigma), and 

 they do this in time to rub against the 



GREATER STITCHWORT. 



latest matured stamens, so that in case no 

 insect visits and fertilises the flower by 

 bringing the i)ollen from another i)lant to 

 the stigmas. self-fertili.>^ati()n takes place ; 

 these different stages can readily be found, 

 and may often be seen on the same j^lant. 

 The old herbalist, Gerarde, says that this 

 plant was called Stitchwort, because a 

 decoction of it was used to cure a stitch 

 in the side. 



H. PuREFOY Fitzgerald. 



