384 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



has many times been affirmed, by different and inde- 

 pendent observers, and yet still remains the subject 

 of some doubt and uncertainty. The earliest instance 

 is that of the daughter of Linnaeus, who observed 

 a " lightning-like phosphorescence " in the flowers 

 of the nasturtium during a sultry tempestuous 

 night. Another instance was recorded in 1843, 

 when Mr. Dowden mentioned a luminous appearance 

 in the double variety of the common marigold. This 

 circumstance was noticed on the 4th August, 1842, 

 at 8 o'clock p.m., after a week of very dry weather. 

 Four persons observed the phenomenon. By shading 

 off the declining day-light, a gold-coloured lambent 

 light appeared to play from petal to petal of the 

 flowers, so as to make a more or less interrupted 

 corona around the disc. It seemed as if this emana- 

 tion grew less vivid as the light declined ; it was not 

 •examined in darkness.^ Dr. Edwin Lankester was 

 strongly in favour of the verity of such exhibitions.- 

 Another contributor says, " I have observed it fre- 

 quently, and have looked for it on each succeeding 

 summer on the double marigold, and more especially 

 the hairy red poppy {Papaver pilosum), in my garden 

 at Mosely, in Worcestershire."^ Many years after, 

 and another instance was recorded: "We witnessed 



' " Proceedings of the British Association for 1843." 

 3 "Gardener's Chronicle," 1843, P- 691. ^ Ibid. 



