50 ARROWROOT. DANDELION. [CHAP. 



position. He has observed with reference to one 

 plant, Maranta arnndinacea, the Arrowroot, a West 

 Indian species allied to Canna, that if the plant has 

 had a severe shock it cannot get to sleep for the next 

 two or three nights. 



The sleep of flowers is also probably a case of the 

 same kind, though, as I have already attempted to 

 show, it has, I believe, special reference to the visits 

 of insects ; those flowers which are fertilised by bees, 

 butterflies, and other day insects, sleep by night, 

 if at all ; while those which are dependent on moths 

 rouse themselves towards evening, as already men- 

 tioned, and sleep by day. These motions, indeed, 

 have but an indirect reference to our present subject. 

 On the other hand, in the Dandelion (Leontodon), the 

 flower-stalk is upright while the flower is expanded, 

 a period which lasts for three or four days ; it then 

 lowers itself and lies close to the ground for about 

 twelve days, while the fruits are ripening, and then 

 rises again when they are mature. In the Cyclamen 

 the stalk curls itself up into a beautiful spiral after 

 the flower has faded. 



The flower of the little Linaria of our walls (L. 

 cymbalarid) pushes out into the light and sunshine, 

 but as soon as it is fertilised it turns round and 

 endeavours to find some hole or cranny in which it 

 may remain safely ensconced until the seed is ripe. 



In some water-plants the flower expands at the 

 surface, but after it is faded retreats again to the 

 bottom. This is the case, for instance, with the 

 Water Lilies, some species of the Potamogeton, Trapa 

 natans. In Valisneria, again, the female flowers 



