208 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vor. XXXV. 
The Portulacee and Caryophyllacez usually possess a 
corolla, though it is sometimes wanting. The colors of the 
flowers of the Portulacez are white, yellow, and red. Portu- 
lacea oleracea, which, Warner fitly remarks in his charming 
essays on gardening, ** grows with all the confidence of youth 
and skill of old age," has yellow flowers and red stems; 
P. pilosa has red flowers, and the intermediate stages between 
“red and yellow are shown by the cultivated P. grandiflora. In 
this latter species the white flowers have green stems, and the 
yellow and red flowers red stems. 
In the Caryophyllacez, a large family of some fifteen hun- 
dred species, there are in the Northern States fifty-six white, 
twenty-two red, two purple, and eight green flowers. The 
green flowers are apetalous. Both the green and smaller 
white-flowered species are low, tufted, weak herbs of a spread- 
ing or ascending habit, represented by the chickweeds and 
sandworts. The flowers are solitary or, at least, not densely 
clustered, and usually white, or in Spergularia reddish. The 
honey is freely exposed and the pollinators are chiefly flies, 
beetles, and the smaller bees, such as Andrena and Halictus. 
Certain species are visited also by butterflies and moths and 
by the cosmopolitan honey-bee. I have never observed and 
have been unable to find any record in the works of Müller 
and Knuth of the visits of bumblebees. Many of the species 
are dichogamous, but self-fertilization is always possible. The 
. chickweed (A/szme (Stellaria) media), so widely distributed as 
a garden weed, may be taken as a representative species. 
The individual flowers are quite inconspicuous, but they are 
numerous and, in contrast with the green foliage leaves, can be 
seen at a considerable distance. I found on trial that a flower 
could be distinctly seen at a distance of twenty-five feet ; but 
after removing the petals it was visible only about four feet. 
The plants blossom throughout the entire year, except when 
prevented by severe weather, and in early spring and late 
fall, when there are few other flowers in bloom, are very fre- 
quently visited by flies. In April, Müller collected in Germany 
six of the less specialized bees and four Diptera, and in the 
middle of October I collected in Maine five species of Diptera 
