MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 285 



of three feet, and has alternate lance-shaped leaves and erect 

 buds. No sooner has the sun set than the buds begin to 

 expand, the closely closed calyx suddenly bursting open with 

 a loud pop, and then one by one the petals slowly unfold, until 

 the whole sulphur-coloured flower is wide-blown and sends 

 forth its sweet fragrance to scent the evening air. 



"A tuft of evening primroses 

 O'er which the mind might hover till it dozes, 

 But that it's ever startled by the leap 

 Of buds into ripe flowers." 



A single summer night suffices to consume the vitality and 

 beauty of this flower, which at evening is fresh and fair and 

 newly blown, and by noon looks faded and most dejected. It 

 is strange how very fragrant and lovely are many of these 

 " flowers that blow when the heat of the day is o'er," such, 

 for instance, as the Night-blooming Jessamine, the Night- 

 blooming Cereus, and the Night-blooming Cactus. The yellow 

 petals of the Evening Primrose shine so luminously in the 

 dusk that they easily attract the crepuscular moths, which 

 fertilize the plants by carrying the abundant sticky pollen 

 from one flower to another. The number four is conspicu- 

 ous in this flower, which has four petals, a four-parted calyx, 

 eight stamens, a four-celled ovary, and a four-cleft stigma. 

 When the corolla fades, after its single night of revelry, it 

 soon shrivels and drops off, and then the oblong capsule 

 containing the seeds quickly matures. 



MEADOW PARSNIP 



Thaspiiim cordatu»i. Parsley Family 



Stems: erect, branched. Leaves: upper stem-leaves compound, short- 

 petioled, ternate, the segments ovate, crenate-dentate ; basal leaves long- 

 petioled, sometimes undivided. Flowers: in umbels, eight-to-twelve rayed. 

 Fruit: globose-ovoid. 



