The White Campion 



or, as we say, " hermaphrodite." It is to this single- 

 sexedness of the flower that the plant owes its Latin 

 name of Lychnis dioica {dioica, "of two sexes"). 

 " I have seen flowers," wrote Alphonse Karr, in his 

 well-known " Tour Romid My Garden," " which 

 contain in their corollas both the husband and wife ; 

 I have seen others which bear them separated, but 

 upon the same plant ; there are, however, trees and 

 flowers which only produce separately males or 

 females, and these are frequently planted by chance 

 at a great distance from each other. There would 

 be no lovers, no marriages, no reproduction, but 

 the air takes upon it the charge of bearing the 

 caresses of the husband to his spouse in the form of 

 those little yellow bags which contain a fructif5dng 

 powder. Bees and other insects which fly from 

 flower to flower are httle messengers who carry 

 perfumed kisses from the bridegroom to the bride ; 

 it is thus they repay the hospitality they receive in 

 the rich corollas and nectaries filled with delicious 

 honey ; and thus the wife receives in her bosom 



'73 



