II PLUMBAGINACE^ — PLANTAGINE^ 341 



Statice (Sea Ijavender) 



Flowers in a dichotomous or trichotomous panicle. 

 Nectar secreted by the base of the flower. The calyx 

 is membranous above and coloured, as in Armeria. We 

 have three species. One, S. Limonium, has leaves 

 several inches long ; in the other two they are short ; 

 in S. auriculcefolia all the branches are flowering; the 

 other has a number of short barren branches. 



S. Limonium is protandrous. Some of the flowers 

 have rudimentary anthers. A glabrous plant found on 

 muddy shores round England and the South of Scotland. 



S. auriculsefolia is a Southern European plant, found 

 in Britain as far north as Lincoln on the east and 

 Wigtown on the west. 



S. reticulata occurs in salt - marshes in Norfolk, 

 Sufi'olk, and Cambridge. 



PLANTAGINE^ 



Parts of the flower in fours. As a rule protogynous 

 wind flowers, with long movable stamens, and the 

 stigmas feathery, which, of course, increases their chance 

 of receiving some of the pollen. They are also long- 

 lived. 



Plantago 



Flowers in heads or spikes ; complete. The anthers 

 are somewhat conspicuous, and the plants are sometimes 

 visited by insects for the sake of their pollen. This is 

 especially the case with P. media. The filaments of 

 the stamens are long and thin, so that they are easily 

 shaken by the wind. The orifice of the anthers is small, 

 so that the pollen only comes out if they are some- 

 what violently shaken. They open when it is fine, and 

 close again if it rains. The anthers open on the side 

 turned to the sky, and it takes a couple of days to 



