Night Flowers 213 



that one season, when my garden yielded twenty 

 large heads of bloom, each bearing many flowers, 

 only eight capsules formed. 



But the night-flowers which blow in the fields, 

 even when they are of foreign descent, have near 

 kin among the aborigines of the soil. So each 

 has its insect attendant, faithful to the family, time 

 out of mind, and their sweetness is not wasted, 

 nor does Nature's purpose for them fail. 



The most familiar nocturnal wild-flower east of 

 the Alleghanies is the evening primrose (CEnothera 

 biennis] (Fig. 58). It is extremely common every- 

 where in the Northern Atlantic states along road- 

 sides, in fence corners, and around the edges of 

 thickets. By day its appearance is uninteresting. A 

 stalk from three to six feet tall bears a profusion 

 of long, narrow, rather coarse leaves, and above 

 them a spire of faded flowers and buds. In the 

 afternoon the primrose has nothing to show but 

 fading flowers and buds, and one is reminded of 

 "jam yesterday and jam to-morrow but never 

 jam to-day," in "Alice in Wonderland." The 

 faded blossoms bloomed the night before last, the 

 wilting ones were beautiful last night, the large 

 buds above them will expand this evening. About 

 sunset or a little sooner, if the plant is in the 



