52 BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS chap. 



over the northern hemisphere, and in Scotland reaches 

 to 2800 feet. 



Adonis 



A. autumnalis. — An annual cornfield weed, 6-8 inches 

 high, glabrous or slightly downy. The leaves are tri- 

 pinnatifid, with fine linear segments. The sepals are 5, 

 petals 5-10, scarlet with black bases, a remarkable com- 

 bination, for black is a very rare colour in petals, and 

 only occurs in one other English species, curiously 

 enough again associated with scarlet, and in another 

 cornfield weed, the Poppy. The carpels are many, 

 one-ovuled and arranged in a head which sometimes 

 lengthens. It flowers from May to September. Accord- 

 ing to Knuth, the brown pollen-grain presents remark- 

 able difi'erences in form ; there is no honey. The flowers 

 are upright when it is fine, but bend over in wet 

 weather. The only insect visitor recorded is the hive 

 bee. The plant grows in Central and Southern Europe, 

 Western Asia, and North Africa. In Scotland and 

 Ireland it is rare. 



Myosijrus 



M. minimus. — This curious little plant is a small 

 annual, only 1-5 inches high, with short, linear leaves 

 dilated at the very base and surrounding the crown. 

 From the axils of the leaves a greater or less number 

 of leafless scapes arise, bearing each a solitary flower. 

 The latter has five, rarely six or seven, sepals, which 

 have a small spur behind, and are appressed to the 

 scape. The small, narrow, greenish-yellow petals are 

 similar in number and have a tubular nectary at the 

 apex of the filiform claw. Inconspicuous as they are, 

 it is yet evident that they serve to attract insect 

 visitors. The flower is almost exclusively visited by 

 small flies. Before the petals have dropped, the 

 receptacle begins to elongate, ultimately reaching a 

 length of 1-1;^ inches, and bearing a dense mass of 

 achenes, with short persistent styles. 



