HOME SURROUNDINGS. 157 



breath, the bud is gone and in its place a broad, white 

 flower is nodding ''bonanox" "good night." It is like a 

 transformation scene in a fairy tale, one moment a bud, the 

 next, in the twinkling of an eye, the full-blown flower. So 

 quickly does it open, that even when waiting on purpose 

 to see it, one often fails, though sometimes a slight tremor 

 is visible, as though a tiny elf were inside the bud, slyly 

 casting loose its bonds. Opening at sunset, the flower re- 

 mains open until the sun rises again. This curious vine is 

 at the beck and call of every one, for it is a native of the 

 hammock and readily propagated from the seed or root. It 

 is the now famous " Moon Flower," recently introduced in 

 the North and Europe. 



Another native vine, also a strong grower, and bearing 

 a pink, convolvulus-shaped flower and a pretty shield-like 

 leaf, is the " evening glory." This, like the bona vox, opens 

 after the sun has sunk low in the west, unless when the 

 day proves to be that rare thing in Florida, a thoroughly 

 cloudy day, and then it remains open. 



The yellow jessamine is another favorite for home deco- 

 ration, and abundant in the hammocks ; its quick growth, 

 once it gets started, its abundant, permanent foliage and 

 fragrant yellow flowers, and above all its scornful disregard 

 of frosty weather, which makes sad havoc of the bona nox 

 and evening glory, all combine to make it very desirable 

 to train over our porches and arbors wherever needed. 



The clematis, coral honey suckle, Virginia creeper, and 

 trumpet creeper, that seems to have no particular name, 

 are also to be found in the hammocks, and all of these na- 

 tive vines seem not to mind their transfer to pine lands, 

 but thrive and grow apace. 



The question of shade is of no small importance in a 

 land where three fourths of the year is summer, and where 

 the sun shines nearly every day. Occasionally the new- 



