36 FLOWERING OF PLANTS. 



A species of the aloes, without prickles, gradually opens its large and 

 beautiful flowers at 5 o'clock, P. M. in July, exhales its odor, then 

 droops and dies ; and, by 10 o'clock it is entirely withered. 



The marygold, the tamarind tree, water lilly, false sensitive plant, 

 with others of the class diadelphia, always expose their flowers during 

 a serene day and close them at night. The tamarind tree is said to 

 enclose with its leaves the flowers and fruit each night, to protect 

 them from rain and cold. The beautiful flower of the cerea, a foot in 

 diamater in Mexico and Jamaica, expands and emits a fragrant odor 

 during a few hours of the night and then closes Jor ever. The flow- 

 ers of the dandelion close entirely during the extreme heat cf the day : 

 it opens a little past 5, and gathers its petals about 9, A. M. Forty- 

 six flowers have been mentioned as possessing this sensibility. Those 

 which observe less accuracy in folding, though in accordance with the 

 weather, are called meteoric flowers ; and those opening in the morn- 

 ing and closing daily before evening, in accordance with the duration 

 of the day, are tropical flowers ; and those opening at an exact hour, 

 and closing mostly at a different hour are equinoctial flowers. Very 

 many plants droop before rain, when the wind which brings up the rain 

 begins to blow. Most of the syngenesious plants have particular hours 

 for closing and shutting their flowers, as the cat's-ear, which closes at 

 3, and the mouse-ear at 2 o'clock. The Prince's Leaf, or four o'clock 

 of the Malay Islands, opens at 4 o'clock, P. M., and closes at 4 o'clock, 

 A. M. It is said to be used by the people as a clock. 



Superstitious notions have originated in the Romish Church from the 

 periods at which flowers blossom, if these periods happen about the 

 time of any saint's day. Thus the dead nettle is consecrated to St. 

 Vincent, the winter hellebore to St. Paul, the crocus to St. Valentine, 

 a species of the daisy to St. Margaret, the cardamine, or " our lady's 

 flower," to the Virgin Mary ; and likewise the marygold, from its im- 

 aginary resemblance to rays of glory, &c. The blue bell has been 

 dedicated to St. George, and thought to be emblematical of British 

 rule over the ocean. St. John's wort is so called from its blooming 

 near the day of that Saint. The plant lychnis, called the great can- 

 dlestick, is believed to have been lighted up for St. John the Baptist. 

 The white lilly is supposed emblematical of the Virgin Mary, and roses 

 are supposed to fade about St. Mary Magdalen's day. The passion 

 flower is supposed to blossom about Holy Rood day. The mandrake 

 has been viewed by some with equally superstitious notions. On 

 pulling it up by the roots, piercing shrieks are said to have been heard 

 from it, and the act has been looked upon with horror by the ignorant ; 

 so that the person withdrawing it from the ground always approached 

 it with his face turned in the oposite direction. It was also supposed 

 to be possessed of talismanic powers, always securing good fortune to 

 its owner. The victories of the Maid of Orleans have thus been at- 



