PHANEROGAMIC PLANTS. 81 
to be connected in an extraordinary manner with 
these phenomena. 
Seated one sultry summer evening in a garden, 
the daughter of the illustrious naturalist observed 
with surprise certain luminous radiations emitted 
by the flowers of a group of nasturtiums. This 
curious observation was made more than once 
during twilight in the months of June and July, 
1762. The girl lived long to tell her wonderful 
tale.* 
The same phenomenon has been witnessed by 
other naturalists, but almost exclusively on yellow 
or orange-coloured flowers. Thus, it has been 
seen, we are told, in the corolla of the sunflower 
(Helianthus annuus), in the garden marigolds 
(Calendula), in the two species of T'agetes (which 
the French botanists call the Rose d’Inde and the 
Gillet W@inde). Phosphoric hght has also been 
seen to be emitted from the flowers of the Tu- 
* Mrs. Loudon, in her ‘Ladies’ Flower Garden,’ p. 116, says: — 
«A curious discovery was made respecting this plant (Zropeolum 
majus, L.) by one of the daughters of Linnzeus, who died lately 
at the advanced age of ninety-six. his lady, in the year 1762, 
observed the 7. majus, or garden Nasturtium, to emit sparks or 
flashes in the morning before sunrise, during the months of June 
and July, and also during twilight in the evening, but not after 
total darkness came on. Similar flashes have been produced by 
other flowers, and it has been observed that they are always most 
brilliant before a thunderstorm.” See also Paxton’s Mag. of 
Botany, vol. ii. p. 195. It has been asserted that certain flowers 
always emit light at the periods of floration and fecundation. 
G 
