Flowers 



been isolated, as if on an uninhabited island, and have 

 changed together, developing side by side, " the world 

 forgetting, by the world forgot." 



There is a charm and a variety in the study of the 

 first appearances of flowers and their hours of opening 

 and closing which affected even the great Linnaeus, who 

 himself prepared a so-called shepherd's clock. It is 

 extremely unlikely that any shepherd would make use 

 of it, for if the sun were above the horizon it would 

 be unnecessary to look at the flowers ; if the day were 

 overcast, the flowers would, in some cases at least, 

 remain closed. Linnaeus' clock begins at 3.5 A.M. 

 when the goatsbeard opens, and stops at midnight 

 when the large-flowered cactus closes its petals. 



The opening and closing of all flowers seems to be 

 indirectly regulated by the hour of sunrise. Kerner 

 van Marilaun's floral clock, drawn out for Innspruck, 

 brings this out very clearly. 15 



Our own hours of work are indirectly regulated by 

 the sunrise also, even those of some amongst us who 

 begin to work just when the majority of people go 

 to sleep. The journalist and the night-watchman have 

 to work in the evening, just as Lychnis vespertina has to 

 do and for similar reasons. 



Strangely enough there seems to be a great variation 

 in the power of habit among flowers. A tulip or 

 crocus will open widely at night when they are 

 brought near a paraffin lamp, but a daisy will not do 

 so. Daisies will open at their usual hour, or very near 

 it, even if they have been kept in a dark cupboard, 

 whilst the wood-sorrel will more or less close its flowers 

 even when a dark cloud passes across the sun at 

 midday. 



It is the same with us, for some will waken at the 

 correct hour in the morning whether the day is bright 



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