ORDERS . 81 
formed from five carpels instead of three. In Fig. 80, the 
persistent calyx should be noticed. : 
Conmen Che common plants belonging to this Order © 
Plants. = are the Pinks, Soapworts, Campions, White 
Lychnis, Corn Cockle, Ragged Robin, Starworts, Pearlworts, 
Sandworts, and Chickweeds. The last three are often very 
minute, with very small, white flowers. | 
ee. 1. Opposite leaves. | 
teristics of 2. A cymose inflorescence, usually two-sided 
the Order. (p. 48), | 
3. The petals, when present, are often very deeply indented. 
4. The stamens are twice as numerous as the petals, and 
arranged in two whorls. 
5. The fruit is a capsule, dehiscing at the top, usually by 
twice as many valves as there are carpels (p. 62). 
The pollination of this Order is interesting. The majority 
have flowers which are wide open, and are therefore visited 
by short-tongued insects, which can easily get the honey 
secreted at the base of the stamens. Others, as for instance, 
the Pinks and Campions, have a tubular calyx, so that the 
honey is less accessible, and can be obtained only by long- 
tongued insects. Many plants belonging to the Order have 
white flowers, and are visited by insects that fly at night. 
These flowers open in the evening and attract by their sweet 
smell. Lychnis vespertina and Silene nutans (Nottingham 
Catchfly) are the best known instances of this. 
The andreecium is often ripe before the gynecium, so that 
_ cross-pollination is insured in the case of insect visits (p. 51). 
Mostly in the temperate regions of the 
Northern Hemisphere, extending even to the 
Arctic circle: rare in the tropics. 
Distribution. 
, 
LEGUMINOSAD OR PAPILIONACEAL. 
SWEET PEA. 
An annual, climbing by means of its tendrils. 
Leaves compound, pinnate, stipulate, the last two pairs of leaf- 
lets and the terminal one being modified into tendrils (Fig. 32). 
Inflorescence axillary, two (or more) flowers on each branch. 
Type 
