CARYOPHYLLEAE 



151 



Fig. 44. Gypsophila fianiculaia^ L. (after Herm. Miiller). (i) 

 Flower in the first (male) condition. (2) Flower in the second (female) 

 condition, a, anthers ; st^ stigma. 



of their diminutive size, the plant is very conspicuous. The cup-shaped flower is 

 only 4-5 'nil- in diameter, and 2| mm. deep. Nectar is secreted at the bottom 

 of the cup by a green fleshy ring-, and is readily accessible even to very short-tongued 

 insects. The anthers of the five stamens which alternate with the petals mature 

 before those of the stamens opposite the petals. They project from the flower — 

 at the same time inclining towards the petals — and dust insect visitors with pollen. 

 When they wither the stamens 

 curve outwards and down- 

 wards, while the styles — at 

 first bent inwards — now elon- 

 gate and diverge from one 

 another, projecting from the 

 flower, so as to be pollinated 

 by the numerous visitors that 

 hasten from blossom to 

 blossom. 



Visitors. — Hermann Miil- 

 ler observed the following. — 



A. Diptera. (a) Mus- 

 cidae: i. Anthomyia sp. ; 2. 

 Lucilia sylvarum Mg., skg. ; 

 3. Miltogramma sp., skg. ; 4. Mosillus arcuatus Latr., skg. ; 5. Onesia floralis R.-D., 

 skg.; 6. Pyrellia cadaverina Z., skg.; 7. Sarcophaga carnaria L., skg. (b) Syrphidae: 

 8. Ascia podagrica F., skg. and po-dvg. ; 9. Eristalis aeneus Scop., do.; 10. E. 

 arbustorum Z., do.; 11. E. nemorum Z., do.; 12. Melithreptus pictus Mg., do.; 

 [ 3. M. taeniatus Mg., do. ; 1 4. Syritta pipiens Z., freq., do. ; 1 5. Syrphus balteatus 

 Deg., do. [c) Tabanidae: 16. Chrysops caecutiens Z., skg. B. Hymenoptera. 

 {a) Apidae: 17. Prosopis armillata Nyl. 5 and J, skg. ; 18. P. brevicornis Nyl. S, skg.; 

 19. P. communis Nyl. 5, skg.; 20. Sphecodes ephippium Z. J. (^) Evaniidae: 21. 

 Gasteruption jaculator Z'., skg. {c) Formicidae: several sp. (d) Sphegtdae: 22. Oxy- 

 belus quattuordecimnotatusy«r. 5 and S, skg. ; 23. O. uniglumis Z., skg. {e) Vespidae: 

 24. Odynerus parietum Z., skg.; 25. O. quadrifasciatus F., skg. 



374. G. muralis L. — The flowers are flesh-coloured, and traversed by red 

 veins; their diameter is about 5 mm. Kirchner ('Flora v. Stuttgart,' p. 242) states 

 that the anthers of the five outer stamens mature before those of the five inner 

 ones; the filaments elongating so that the anthers project beyond the opening of 

 the flower. 



After the pollen is shed, the filaments curve so far outwards that the styles — 

 which now diverge and project out of the flower — cannot come into contact with 

 the anthers, automatic self-pollination being thus prevented. In this second (female) 

 condition the petals — which so far have been flat — roll themselves up longitudinally 

 to some extent, so that the flowers are less conspicuous than in the first (male) 

 condition, when they are consequently more noticed and visited by insects. 



375. G. fastigiata L. — Schulz ('Beitrage,' II, p. 180) observed at Kyffhauser 

 gynomonoecious and gynodioecious plants, in addition to those bearing protandrous 

 flowers. Warnstorf describes the pollen-grains as white, roundish-polyhedral, 

 delicately papillated, 30-37 fj. in diameter (Verh. bot. Ver., Berlin, xxxvii, 1895). 



