THE LOWER DICOTYLEDONS. 321 



by visiting insects. There is often a rudiment of the pistil 

 in the centre of the male flower. The female flower has an 

 egg-shaped ovary with five long spreading styles, and some- 

 times contains rudimentary stamens. 



The capsule, nearly globular, opens by ten teeth, which 

 curve outwards, leaving a wide opening ; the short flower- 

 stalk remains erect, and the censer mechanism is more 

 efficient than in the Stellarias. 



331. The White or Evening- Campion (L. vespertina] resembles 

 Red Campion in structure, but grows in drier and more exposed places, 

 often in fields as well as hedgerows; its firs. (May-Oct.) are white 

 and only open in the evening, and are visited by moths. 



Two other species of Lychnis are common ; both differ from Red and 

 White Campions in having protandrous $ flowers. Ragged Robin 

 (L. Jloa-cuciUi), perennial, in moist fields and beside streams, has hairless 

 shoots with lanceolate leaves ; the blade of each petal is divided into 

 four narrow lobes, giving the drooping rosy firs, a characteristic look ; 

 the capsule is egg-shaped and opens by 5 teeth only. The Corn 

 Cockle (L. githago), annual, is a beautiful cornfield weed ; stem 1 

 to 2 ft. high, only slightly branched ; the branches and the long (2 

 to 5 ins.) lanceolate leaves are nearly erect, making a small angle with 

 the stem (why is this habit advantageous to a plant growing among 

 tall corn ?) ; stem, leaves, and calyx covered with long hairs ; firs, 

 few, large, pale purple, scentless ; calyx-tube ribbed, teeth large and 

 projecting beyond corolla ; petals without scales and with blade only 

 slightly notched or entire. 



332. The Campion Family (Caryophyllaceae) is easily 

 recognised by the opposite (decussate) simple, generally 

 entire, leaves ; stem usually with swollen nodes ; regular 

 flowers in dichasia (biparous cymes, in which one side 

 generally outgrows the other and branches more freely) ; 

 ovary generally with free central placenta bearing numerous 

 ovules in double rows corresponding to the number of carpels 

 (indicated by number of styles), and sometimes showing at 

 the base traces of partitions. 



333. Flower Mechanisms in Caryophyllaceae. There 

 are two distinct types of flower structure in this family. 

 In the lower type (Alsineae) the flower is wide open, the 

 sepals being free or (Knawel, Lesser and Bog Stitchworts) 

 joined at the base only, and the petals sessile or having 

 only short stalks (claws). The flowers of Stellaria are 



S.B. 21 



