The NYMPHiEA ALBA (White Water-Lily) every day in the morning rises from the water and 

 opens its flower, so that at midday it rises above the surface, by means of its peduncles, nearly 

 three inches. 



In the evening it is entirely closed, and shut up, when it sinks into its watery bed. 



It is about four o'clock in the evening when it first contracts its flower, and it passes the 

 whole night under water, which was observed two thousand years back, in the time of Theo- 

 phrastiis, who observed this in the Nymph^a Lotus, a plant so resembling our Nymph^a, 

 that it scarcely can be distinguished from it, unless in its foliage, which is toothed in the 



Lotus. 



Thus Theophrastus hath written in his History of Plants (Book 4. Chap. 10.) concerning 



the Lotus. 



" They report, that its head and flowers sink into the Euphrates, and descend even to the 

 middle of the night, and sink to that depth, that even at daybreak it cannot be reached with 

 the extended arm ; then it returns, and emerges out of the waves, and opens its flowers more 

 and more to the rising sun, advancing through the day, and the flower being completely ex- 

 panded, it even then rises higher, so that at length it reaches to a considerable height above the 

 water.'' 



The same is nearly the custom of our White Nymphs a.* 



FIFTH OBSERVATION. 



Many flowers are closed at night and before the coming on of rain ; but the farina being shed, 

 they remain afterwards always open.f 



* It is still open to doubt, whether this beautiful history of the NYMPiiiEA Lotus be not a fable. (Vide the Account of our Picturesque 

 Botanical Plate of the Nymph^a Nelumbo). Might not the dipping of the flowers after impregnation ; with their closing in the evening, 

 being then covered by an unattractive calyx, before fecundation ; give birth to the belief, that the full-Mown flowers of the Nymph^as do 

 actually immerse, and rise again for several successive mornings ? Still, however, it cannot fail to strike the observer, that the peduncles, or 

 flower-stalks, hang at right angles to the root, and thus elevate themselves so as to reach difltrent heights, so that the flowers shall be above 

 the water, however swollen. 



But the greatest prodigy in this way, is the Vallisneria, which grows plentifully in the rivers of Italy. The female plant, for the sexes 

 are upon different plants, has a spiral stem, like a screw, which it contracts or unwinds, according to the depth of the currents it inhabits. 

 The male has a short stalk, which snaps asunder, and the male flowers being liberated from the plant then expand, and swim on the surface 

 of the water, and are conveyed in this way often to distant brides, with whom they celebrate their nuptials. 



f Several plants, especially those with compound yellow flowers, nod, and during the whole day turn their flowers towards the sun ; 

 to wit, to the east in the morning, to the south at noon, and to the west toward evening ; which is very observable in the sonchus arvensis, 

 the sow-thistle. And I believe every body knows, that a great part of plants in a serene sky expand their flowers, and, as it were, with 

 cheerful looks behold the light of the sun ; but before rain they shut them up ; e. g. the Tulip. The flowers of the Draha Jlpina, Alpine 

 whitlow grass, the Parthenium foUis ovatis crenatis, bastard fever-few with egg-shaped crenated leaves, and the trientalis, or winter- 

 green, hang down in the night, as if the plants were asleep, lest rain or the moist air should injure the fertilizing dust. The trefoils, and 

 one species of wood-sorrel, shut up or double their leaves before storms and tempests, but in a serene sky expand or unfold them, so that the 

 husbandman can pretty clearly foretell tempests from them. And it is well known that the Bauhinia, or mountain ebony, sensitive plants, 

 and Cassia, observe the same rule. The flowers of goats-beard open in the morning at the approach of the sun, and shut about noon; hence 

 it is called .Tohn-go-to-bed-at-noon. Parkinsonia, tamarind tree, jEschynomene, or bastard sensitive plant, and several others of the diadel- 

 phia class, in serene weather, expand their leaves in the day-time, and contract them in the night. The tamarind tree is said, by Alpinus 

 and Acosta, to enfold within its leaves the flowers or fruit every night, to guard them from cold or rain. 



Hence the Horologe, or Botanical Watch, is formed from numerous plants, of which the following are those most common in this 

 country. Leontodon taraxacum. Dandelion, opens at 5—0, closes at 8—9. HieraciUm pilosella. Mouse-ear Hawkweed, opens 

 at 8, closes at 2. Sonchus l^vis, smooth Sow-thistle, at 5 and at 11 — 12. Lactuca sativa, cultivated Lettice, at 7 and 10. Tra- 

 GOPOGON J.VTEUM, yellow Goatsbeard, at 3 — 5 and at 9 — 10. Lapsana, Nipplewort, at 5 — 6 and at 10— 1. Nymph^a alba, white 

 water Lily, at 7 and 5. Papaver nudicaule, naked Poppy, at 6 and at 7- Hemerocallis fulva, tawny Day-lily, at 5 and at 7—8. 

 Convolvulus, at 5—Q. Malva, Mallow, at 9 — 10, and at l. Arenarea purpurea, purple Sandwort, at 9—10, and at 2— -3. 



Z Anagalis, 



