THE LOWER DICOTYLEDONS. 



329. The other Brit, species of Stellaria are perennials. Lesser 

 Stitchwort (S. graminea), in dry fields and hedgerows, resembles 

 Greater Stitchwort in most respects, but has narrower leaves, sepals 

 joined at bases, and perigynous stamens ; the capsule is egg-shaped ; 

 the flowers (May- Aug. ) are rather smaller and not so markedly pro- 

 tandrous. Bog Stitchwort (S. uliginosa) also has the stem 4-angled 

 and the sepals joined, but the cyme has very few flowers (May- July), and 

 these are small ( in. diam. ), with petals shorter than sepals. Marsh 

 Stitchwort (S. pcdustris) also has 4-angled stem, united sepals, and 

 egg-shaped capsules, but petals longer than sepals ; while Water 

 Stitchwort (S. aquatica) has broad leaves, flowers ^ in. across, and 

 large (1 in. long) ovoid capsules surrounded by the free sepals, which 

 enlarge after flowering, and differs from the other species in having 

 5 styles and 10 capsule-valves ; these two species are not so common 

 as the other three. 



33O. Bed Campion (Lychnis diurna) is very common in 

 hedgerows and damp, shaded places. It has a thin branching 

 rhizome, giving off erect (1 to 3 ft. high) flowering shoots, 

 with stalked obovate " radical " leaves (3 to 6 ins. long) and 

 narrower sessile upper leaves; the whole shoot is covered 

 with soft hairs and the cylindrical stem has swollen nodes. 



The flowers (May- Sept.) are unisexual, and the male and 

 female plants are easily distinguished, as a rule, even before 

 flowering. The female plants are usually more robust, with 

 thicker stems and larger leaves. The flowers (about 2 cms. 

 across) have a hairy, reddish, gamosepalous calyx, with five 

 pointed teeth, corresponding to five ridges on the long ( in.) 

 calyx-tube ; in the female flower the calyx is more globular 

 than in the male. The five petals are free ; each has a narrow 

 vertical stalk (claw) and a broad spreading, horizontal, deeply 

 cleft blade, with a two-lobed scale at junction of stalk and 

 blade. The five claws, held together by the tubular calyx, 

 form a deep flower-tube, so that only long-tongued insects 

 (bees, butterflies) can reach the honey, the five spreading 

 blades serving as a platform, while the scales form a collar 

 or " corona " and keep out small insects, besides helping to 

 protect the honey and pollen. 



The male flower has ten stamens, five being longer than 

 the alternate five (are the long ones opposite petals or calyx- 

 teeth?). Sometimes the anthers contain, instead of pollen, 

 a powdery brown or black mass the spores of a smut- 

 fungus, which are carried from flower to flower, like pollen, 



