II FRANKENIAOE^ — CARYOPHYLLACE^ 103 



Hooker recognise three well-marked varieties : (1) V. 

 arvensis ; annual, with small flowers ; leaves narrow ; 

 a common weed of cultivation. (2) Garden Pansy ; 

 much larger, often biennial, or even perennial, and with 

 broader leaves ; it easily degenerates, they say, into 

 V. arvensis. (3) V. lutea ; generally perennial ; flowers 

 large, often yellow. A plant of mountain pastures. It 

 is annual with us, like so many other weeds of cultivation, 

 but becomes perennial in Alpine districts (see Cardamine 

 hirsuta, p. 79). 



The Pansies do not produce cleistogamous flowers. 

 The form of the pistil is peculiar, but no reason has, so 

 far as I know, been suggested for the difi'erence. In the 

 absence of insect visits the flowers of No. 2 last two to 

 three weeks, but set no seed, or very little. V. arvensis, 

 on the contrary, is self-fertile. The pollen grains are 

 in the form of four- or five-sided prisms. The seeds are 

 pale brown, crustaceous, obovoid, shining, and with a 

 pale corrugated arilloid at the base. 



FEANKENIACEiE 



Of this order we have only one species, Frankenia 

 Isevis. The sepals form a tubular calyx with four or 

 five teeth. The petals also number 4 or 5, with long- 

 claws and spreading laminae. The seeds are very small, 

 with a straight embryo surrounded by albumen. It 

 occurs only on our south-east coasts from Yarmouth to 

 Kent. 



CAEYOPHYLLACE^ 



This order may be divided into two groups — (1) 

 Silenese, in which the sepals are united into a tubular 

 or campanulate calyx ; and (2) Alsinese, in which they 



