Page:Wayside and Woodland Blossoms.djvu/55

Rh five petals of the corolla are united to form a somewhat bell-shaped flower, the mouth of which is divided into two unequal lips. The upper lip is two-lobed, the lower three-lobed. The upper usually acts as a roof to shelter the stamens and stigmas, the lower as a platform upon which insects may alight when they come to seek honey and to fertilize the flower. In the present species the anthers and stigmas project beyond the upper lip, which is very short; but they are protected by the overhanging lower bract of the flower above. There are interesting facts in connection with the fertilization of these labiate flowers, which, however, we must leave for a couple of pages. It is characteristic of the Labiatæ that the stems are square, the leaves opposite, the corolla bilabiate, the stamens less in number than the lobes of the corolla.

The Forget-me-not is so well known that with our limited space we will be content with noting that its flowers are similar in structure to those of the Lungwort (page 9), though the tube is shorter. Like Pulmonaria, it is a plant of the order Boragineæ, genue Myosotis. There are six British species. Name, from two Greek words signifying mouse-ear, in allusion to the shape of the leaves.

These are among the despised of our wild-flowers, weeds among weeds. They are considered of interest only to the keeper of cage-birds, by whose pets the ripe fruit-stalks are much appreciated. But if we knew the plants better we should appreciate them more. There must be something worthy of respect in a plant that has contrived to get itself so taken throughout the world that it is known wherever Europeans have been, and is called the White-man's Foot. The leaves of the genus are characterized by having strongly developed parallel ribs on the under surface.