158 THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 



a number of leaflets, will fold up not only in the 

 night but even in the daytime if the light becomes 

 too strong. 



Plants usually have certain times for sleeping; 

 but, like people, this is mostly habit with them 

 and they may be made to change their sleeping 

 hours by artificial darkness or ligEt. With the ex- 

 ception of the night-bloomers, which, like the owl 

 and other night birds, have their own reason for 

 preferring darkness, most plants like to be awake 

 in the daylight, and to go to sleep only when the 

 sun has gone and darkness has settled down and 

 their own special bee-friends are dozing away with 

 folded wings to await the dawn. 



But plants, like chickens, may be fooled by arti- 

 ficial darkness. It has been observed that often 

 during an eclipse of the sun, certain plants, like 

 the pheasant's-eye, would mistake the darkness for 

 that of night and rapidly close their flowers and 

 leaves in sleep. 



Some most interesting experiments have been 

 made with a sensitive-plant, mimosa. At night its 

 sleep was disturbed by the presence of a bright 

 light, and during the day it was placed in a dark- 

 ened room. As a result the plant was much trou- 

 bled; it acted like a disturbed bird or animal. It 

 opened and closed irregularly for some time, but 



