FLOWERS. 31 
worth witnessing, to see in the 
same forest perhaps hundreds of 
these lovely blossoms hanging in 
profusion from the branches of 
the trees, and loading the atmo- 
sphere with the most delicious 
fragrance. The plants upon 
which they grow are parasites, Umbel, Carrot. 
and fasten their roots into the 
trunks and branches of the trees. The flowers are 
white, and very large, often measuring as much as 
nine or ten inches in diameter. They commence to 
blow early in the evening, and remain open during 
most of the night, when they close, to bloom no more. 
But the Evening Primrose is a much more familiar 
instance in which the approach of darkness is hailed 
by the opening flower. This beautiful and interesting 
plant grows abundantly in our fields, and on the 
borders of our woods; and is frequently culti- 
vated in our gardens. It unfolds its pale yellow blos- 
soms in the latter part of the day, and 
the process of opening is of so re- 
markable a nature as to claim parti- 
cular notice. The divisions of the 
calyx are furnished with little hooks 
at their extremities, by which the 
flower is held together before expan- 
sion. These divisions open gradually 
at the bottom, so as to show the yel- Corym Ban 
low corolla within, when suddenly the 
flower bursts from its confinement, and opens about 
