Antirrhinum Graccum. 



CHAPTEE VI. 



THE SENSITIVE PLANT. 



" Weak, with nice sense, the chaste mimosa stands ; 

 From each rude touch withdraws her timid hands ; 

 Oft, as light clouds o'erpass the summer-glade, 

 Alarmed, she trembles at the passing shade, 

 And .feels, alive through all her tender form, 

 The whispered murmurs of the gathering storm ; 

 Shuts her sweet eyelids to approaching night 

 And hails with freshened charm the rising light. 

 Veiled, with gay decency and modest pride, 

 Slow to the Mosque she moves, an Eastern hride ; 

 There her soft vows unceasing love record, 

 Queen of the bright seraglio of her lord. 

 So sinks or rises with the changeful hour 

 The liquid silver in its glassy tower. 

 So turns the needle to the pole it loves, 

 With fine vibrations quivering as it moves." 



r ]pHUS the poet Darwin sings, in his fanciful 

 * " Loves, of the Plants," the praise of the Sensitive 

 plant (Mimosa sensitiva and predica). 



