METEORIC FLOWERS. 265 



The rose and the sweet briar drink 

 With pleasure the stores of the sky, 



And why should your modesty shrink 

 From a drop in that little pink eye ? ' 



Many of the night-blooming flowers are fragrant ; 

 it would seem that because they expand at a period 

 when, on account of the darkness, beauty of appear- 

 ance would be futile to attract, they compensate for 

 this by diffusing delicious odours. The great water- 

 lily ( Victoria regia) is really nocturnal, as are some 

 others of the water lilies, and the magnificent night- 

 blooming cereus {Cereus grandifloriis) is one of the 

 finest, as well as one of the most fragrant of flowers. 



The evening primrose {CEnotJicra biennis) is very 

 unlike a primrose, except in colour. Here and there 

 a blossom may be seen expanded in the daytime, 

 but the majority of the flowers do not open till six 

 or seven o'clock in the evening, and then they are 

 slightly fragrant (fig. 43). 



Equally well known are the varieties of the 

 " marvel of Peru " {Mirabilis Jalapa), sometimes 

 called the " four o'clock," although the time for 

 opening is as late as the evening primrose. The 

 " lady of the night " {Mii^abilis dichotonid) is pro- 

 bably the original " four o'clock," as it opens earlier, 

 but popular names must not always be applied with 



^ "Botanical Looker-out," p. 168. 



