" ONAGRACEiE 187 



regular. Three have the stigma deeply four-lobed, one, 

 E. hirsutum, with clasping leaves, while the other two 

 may be distinguished by the form of the leaves, which 

 in one, E. montanum, are ovate or ovate-lanceolate, in 

 the other, E. parviflorum, are lanceolate. The flowers 

 also are small. Of the five species with a club-shaped 

 stigma, two have the stem marked with two or four 

 raised lines ; E. tetragonum has sessile leaves, while in 

 E. roseum they are shortly stalked. Of the three species 

 with a cylindrical stem, one, E. alpinum, is a small 

 Alpine species, not six inches high ; E. alsinifolium has 

 ovate, E. palustre lanceolate leaves. The flowers secrete 

 honey from the summit of the ovary. In wet weather 

 the long ovary bends so that the flowers turn downwards, 

 thus protecting the pollen from rain. The fruit is a 

 long narrow capsule, which splits open from above down- 

 wards both between the valves and also along the centre 

 of each, leaving the central axis with the seeds attached 

 to it. The seeds are very numerous, small, oblong, 

 brown, and with a tuft of long white silky hairs at the 

 upper end. The hairs act as a parachute, and facilitate 

 the dispersal of the seeds by wind. 



E. angustifolium (Rose - bay) has large purplish 

 flowers in conspicuous heads (Fig. 132), and is much 

 frequented by insects. The flowers, 

 as Sprengel pointed out, are so 

 strongly protandrous that self- 

 fertilisation is almost out of the 

 question. They open soon after 

 sunrise. The lower parts of the 

 filaments are flattened, and form a 

 hollow cone protecting the honey, 

 which lies between them and the 

 ovary. The space between the 

 two is arched over by hairs, which rio. \m.-Epiiohiumangmti- 



T-, . ,.T •^ .,,. ,-, fohum. Flowering snoot. 



exclude ram while permittmg the 

 passage of the probosces of insects. When they have 

 shed their pollen the stamens turn outwards, while 

 the pistil grows up and the stigmas take their place. 



