AGROSTEMMA 
65 
Genus 13. Viscaria (p. 67). Petals with coronal outgrowths. Stigmas usually 5, antisepalous. 
Gynophore half as long as the capsule. Capsule with persistent septa, dehiscing loculicidally by 
5 antisepalous teeth. 
Genus n. Agrostemma 
By R. H. COMPTON, M.A. 
Agrostemma L. [Gen. PI. 135 (1737);] Sp. PI. 435 (1753) et Gen. PI. ed. 5, 198 (1754) partim ; Fries in 
Bot. Notiser 169 (1842); A. Braun in Flora xxvi, 367 (1843); Pax °P- c it- P- 7° (1889); Lychnis Scopoli FI. 
Cam. ed. 2, i, 302 (1772) partim; Syme Eng. Bot. ii, 70 (1864); pro min. parte, non L. ; Githago [Tragus De 
Stirp. 127 (1552) nomen; Adanson Fam. PI. ii, 255 (1763);] Link Dissert. Bot. Suerin 62 (1795). 
Annual or biennial herbs covered with greyish hairs. Calyx 10-ribbed, with 5 elongated teeth. 
Petals almost entire, without coronal scales. Gynophore short. Stamens 10. Carpels and stigmas 5, 
alternisepalous. Fruit a capsule, hard-walled, without persistent septa, dehiscing septicidally at the 
apex by 5 alternisepalous teeth. Seeds reniform, surface rough, dark-coloured, on long funicles. 
2 species ; Europe and the Mediterranean region, and widely introduced elsewhere. Only 
British species : — A. githago. 
I. AGROSTEMMA GITHAGO. Corn Cockle. Plate 63 
Githago sive nigellastrum Turner Libellus Herb. Nov. (1538); Pseudomelanthmm Gerard Herb. 926 (1597); 
Lychnis segetum major C. Bauhin Pinax 204 (1761); Ray Syn. ed. 3, 338 (1724). 
Agrostemma githago L. Sp. PI. 435 (1753)!; Smith Ft. Brit. 493 (1800)!; Rouy et Foucaud FI 
France iii, 88 (1896); Lychnis githago Scopoli FI. Cam. ed. 2, i, 310 (1772); Roehling Deutschl. FI. ed. 3, iii 
330 (1831); Syme Eng. Bot. ii, 74 (1864); Githago segetum Link Dissert. Bot. 62 (1795) nomen. 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 741; Curtis FI. Lond. i, t. 92; Ft. Dan. t. 576; Svensk Bot. t. 488; 
Reichenbach Icon, vi, t. 308, fig. 5132, as Githago segetum. 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 6j. (a) Lower part of shoot, (b) Upper part of shoot. ( c ) Flower, (d) Ripening 
capsule within persistent calyx. ( e ) Ripening capsule. Cambridgeshire (S. S.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 224 ; Croall {FI. Braemar), 507 ; Lindstrom {PI. Finl.), 200, as G. segetum ; Paulin 
{FI. Cam.), 260; Petrak {Ft. Boh. et Morav.), 941; Sintenis {Ft. Or. 1892), 4076, as G. segetum ; Todaro, 801 ; 
Welwitsch {FI. Lusitl), 1018 ; Woloszczak {FI. Polon.), 513. 
Annual or biennial, without rhizome or barren shoots. Shoot covered with long appressed grey 
hairs. Stem up to nearly 1 m. high, stiffly erect, usually branched ; method of branching a dichasium 
of which only one axillary shoot develops. Leaves lower ones linear or linear-lanceolate, slightly 
connate, acute or obtuse, 4 — 10 cm. long. Injlorescence solitary. Pedicels long. Flowers large, 
4 — 5 cm. in diameter, showy ; June to August. Calyx with linear or lanceolate acute teeth equalling 
or exceeding the length of the corolla. Petals reddish purple, occasionally white, with longitudinal 
lines of dark dots; limb rounded, deltoid; claw linear. Anthers dark blue. Capsule ovoid, sessile, 
its teeth slightly reflexed. Seeds poisonous, 3 mm. in diameter. 
The white-flowered form was named G. segetum var. albiflorum by Schur {Enum. PI. Transsilv. 108 (1866)). De Vries 
{Berichte Bot. Ges. xviii, 87 (1900)) found that the white-flowered character behaves as a simple Mendelian recessive to 
purple, the F 2 generation containing about 25 °/ 0 of white-flowered plants. 
The older records indicate that A. githago was once more abundant in this country than at present. 
{a) A. githago var. aestivalis Compton in Moss Camb. Brit. FI. iii, p. 65. 
Laminae narrow, acute. Flowers appearing in June. 
Adapted for growth with spring-sown crops. Probably the more abundant variety. 
(/3) var. aestivalis forma nana Compton in Moss Camb. Brit. FI. iii, p. 65; A. githago var. nana Hartman 
Skand. FI. ed. 5, 128 (1849); G. thessala Formanek in Verh. Nat. Ver. Briinn xxv, Abh., 197 (1897). 
This is a dwarf state which, although connected by all intermediates with the typical well-grown plant, is very 
striking. It appears to be the result of growth under adverse circumstances, as on dry stony ground. The stem is from 10 
to 20 cm. high, and bears 4 — 7 distant pairs of very slender leaves about 15 mm. long and 1 broad. The flower is single 
and terminal, the calyx about as long as the corolla, as a rule with its tube about 8 mm. long and 3 broad and the limb 
6 — 12 mm. long. The form closely approaches A. gracile Boissier ( Diagn . PI. Orient. Nov. ser. 2, i, 80 (1853)), the only 
other species of the genus, which is apparently an east-Mediterranean plant and which has much shorter calyx-teeth. The 
var. microcalyx Doll {FI. Baden 1232 (1862)) is apparently a synonym of A. gracile, as both Doll and Boissier quote 
Kotschy (Exsicc. no. 65). Cf. Druce FI. Berksh. 89 (1897). 
M. III. 
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