YELLOW GOAT's-BEARD. 53 



near it grows the elegant wood-sorrel, with 

 a jointed or granulated root, that answers 

 the pm'pose of a reservoir for retaining the 

 vital powers of the plant, during the season 

 when those powers are in a torpid state. 

 Each have an especial reference to the 

 habits of the plants, and each have within 

 them a set of vessels by means of which 

 they draw moisture from the parent earth. 



The leaves and flowers have likewise their 

 own elaborate machinery, their own beauti- 

 ful arrangement : the one contributes to the 

 health and verdure of the plant : the other 

 is not only delightful to the eye, but con- 

 tains a variety of peculiar and elaborate se- 

 cretions, such as an elastic pollen, honey, 

 and an exquisitely volatile perfume. 



The remarkable property, which is inhe- 

 rent in the yellow goat's-beard, and in other 

 meteoric flowers, of unfolding their petals 

 at certain hours, and of closing them again, 



