156 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



growing wild iu the hammocks, that flourish when trans- 

 planted to a flower-bed. The bona nox (good-night) is a 

 remarkably rapid-growing vine, with leaves shaped much 

 like an ivy, set singly about three inches apart, on a slim, 

 leathery, pliable stem; it is not only, as we have said, so 

 rapid a grower that it is sometimes called "railroad ivy," 

 but from the base of each leaf two or three stems start out, 

 each of which seems to vie with the other as to which can 

 travel the fastest. The result is a fine, dense shade in an 

 incredibly short space of time, if one only has the patience 

 to keep pace w^ith the long, down-reaching stems that hang 

 helplessly downward, waiting to be put up like long hair 

 that has no curl to it. 



The flower of the bona nox is as much of a curiosity as 

 the vine itself. It is large and pure white, save for faint 

 green bauds that mark it off* in several divisions. It is 

 shaped like a shallow convolvulus, w^ith tips so decidedly 

 pointed as, w-hen open, to present a star-like appearance. 

 It is a handsome, waxy, showy flower ; but the most curi- 

 ous thing about it is its manner of opening ; it don't do it 

 at all in the quiet, respectable way, so fashionable in the 

 world of flowers. It reminds one of those jerky, excitable 

 people who move through life on springs, who bounce and 

 thump over every little unevenness in their path, who can 

 not work quietly nor open a door save with a jerk. This 

 is just the way the bona nox behaves; from the seed to the 

 flower it growls with one continuous rush, as though run- 

 ning for a wager ; and the flower — well, you see the long, 

 white bud, just as the sun has put his night-cap on and 

 gone to bed ; it is about three inches in length, like a slen- 

 der finger — you see it there among the thick, green leaves, 

 lying perdu ; but the moment the bright luminary sinks to 

 rest the bud awakes to a sense of its own impoliteness to 

 the god of day, and lo ! in an instant, while you draw a 



