386 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



brighter than I had ever seen them before. The 

 weather was very sultry."^ 



The tuberose has also the reputation of being 

 luminous in a similar manner. It has been observed, 

 so it is said, of a sultry evening, after thunder, to 

 dart small sparks in abundance from such of its 

 flowers as were fading.^ The sunflower has also a 

 like reputation, and so has the martagon lily and the 

 evening primrose. Altogether a number of difl"erent 

 plants have been seen to present a similar phe- 

 nomenon, and the facts are attested by a long list 

 of different individuals. 



Two theories have been propounded with respect 

 to this class of luminosity ; one that it is an optical 

 illusion, the other that the light is electric. For the 

 former it is contended that bright flowers are always 

 the subjects, and this exhibition takes place in the 

 evening. On behalf of this view, it is quoted from 

 Goethe: " On the 19th June, 1799, late in the evening, 

 when the twilight was passing into a clear night, as 

 I was walking up and down with a friend in the 

 garden, we remarked very plainly about the flowers 

 of the oriental poppy, which were distinguishable 

 above everything else by their brilliant red, some- 

 thing like flame. We placed ourselves before the 



' " Gardener's Chronicle," July 16, 1859, p. 604. 

 ' "Science Gossip," 1871, p. 122. 



