. Plant life in Alpine Switzerland; being an account in simple language of the natural history of Alpine plants. Mountain plants. THE FIELD GENTIAN 55 Both are much-branched plants bearing many flowers, as a rule, and the sepals and petals are only four and not five in number in each case, a character which easily distinguishes them from the other Alpine Gentians. The Field Gentian, The Field Gentian {Gentiana campestris, Linn.) (Plate X., Fig. 2) is a many - flowered annual plant, with a rather peculiar calyx. Two of the sepals are much broader than the other pair. The blue fringe of scales a
. Plant life in Alpine Switzerland; being an account in simple language of the natural history of Alpine plants. Mountain plants. THE FIELD GENTIAN 55 Both are much-branched plants bearing many flowers, as a rule, and the sepals and petals are only four and not five in number in each case, a character which easily distinguishes them from the other Alpine Gentians. The Field Gentian, The Field Gentian {Gentiana campestris, Linn.) (Plate X., Fig. 2) is a many - flowered annual plant, with a rather peculiar calyx. Two of the sepals are much broader than the other pair. The blue fringe of scales at the mouth of the corolla is very conspicuous, and is deeply cut into long, narrow segments (Text-fig. III.). Its probable Flower of the object is to keep out " unbidden fi^^"'""" guests" — that is, certain small insects, especially creeping in- sects, which might visit the flower in search of honey or pollen, but are of no service to the plant as cross-pollinators. The flower is specially adapted to bees and butterflies, which alone are powerful enough to force aside the fringe closing the throat of the corolla, and possess a sufiiciently long proboscis or tongue to reach the honey secreted by the nectaries at the base of the corolla. Showing the scale-like out- growths from the throat of the corolla. Magnified 3 Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Arber, Edward Alexander Newell, 1870-. London, J. Murray
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