82 BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS chap. 



S. Irio (London Eocket). — So called because it came 

 up in great numbers in the spring after the fire of 

 London. 



S. Sophia (Flixweed). — The flowers are small and 

 inconspicuous, the petals only half as long as the sepals, 

 and nearly the same colour. ' It used to be thought of 

 special value in healing wounds, whence the name 

 Sophia, short for sophia chirurgorum, " the wisdom of 

 surgeons." 



Alliaria 



A. oflBcinalis (Sauce Alone ; Jack by the Hedge). — • 

 A common hedge-bank plant, with a strong smell of 

 garlic when bruised. There are four glands in the flower, 

 but, according to Knuth, only the two at the base of 

 the short stamens secrete honey. This collects in four 

 drops in the space between the stamens and the pistil. 

 Perhaps it may be connected with the fact that the 

 honey thus passes inwards, and not, as in allied species, 

 outwards between the stamens and the sepals, that the 

 sepals drop early. 



Erysimum 



E. cheiranthoides. — In this species also the honey is 

 secreted by the nectaries at the base of the short stamens, 

 those belonging to the longer ones being rudimentary. 

 The pod is covered with stellate hairs. 



Brassica 



B. oleracea (Cabbage). — There are four nectaries 

 — two at the base of the inner sides of the two short 

 stamens, the other two between the roots of the 

 longer ones. It seems doubtful, however, whether the 

 latter secrete any honey. The honey accumulates 

 between the bases of the longer stamens, and insects 

 seeking it could therefore not fertilise the flower. Is 

 this perhaps the reason for the diminution or absence 

 of secretion from these glands ? The flowers are visited 

 by bees, especially the hive bee, and beetles. The 



