Night Flowers 201 



an open window on a sultry night. In a museum 

 of natural history we may see them gathered ac- 

 cording to their tribes, a mighty host, clad all in 

 night's sombre livery. It would be a formidable 

 undertaking to count the species, and as for the 

 individuals, they must be numberless as the sands 

 of the shore. For them the night-flowers blow, 

 and as the guests are many, the banquet is abun- 

 dant. 



In our gardens and in the fields a number of 

 blossoms expand in the twilight. Some of these 

 close about sunrise, some wilt in the radiance of 

 noon, and some remain open all through the day, 

 and hence are never thought of as nocturnal flow- 

 ers. But their first freshness and uttermost sweet- 

 ness are given to the night-moths, and though we 

 may see them blooming in the sunshine, they are 

 really blossoms of the night. 



Among garden-flowers the most familiar night- 

 bloomer is the honeysuckle. Its buds open late 

 in the afternoon or in the evening before dusk 

 falls. On a very cloudy day I have seen them ex- 

 panding as early as half-past three, and in the 

 long June afterglow it may be eight o'clock be- 

 fore the last flowers unfold. They are slender 

 vases filled to the brim with fragrance, which is 



