§| The Scented Qarden {$£ 



or wasps to reach. Nor do the jasmines exhale their 

 richest perfumes until darkness falls and the bells of the 

 yuccas turn to stars. The scents of those old favourites, 

 the night-scented stock {flesperis tristis) and the old 

 double white Rocket (H. matronalis) and Nicotiana 

 affinis, have rejoiced generations of scent-lovers with the 

 sweetness of their perfumes in the evening. The old 

 double white Rocket was formerly known as Dames 

 Violets, for in the evening it exhales a violet-like fragrance, 

 whereas as Parkinson noted three hundred years ago this 

 ' pretty sweet scent ' is almost absent during the day. 

 One of the sweetest of all evening scents is that of one 

 of our native catchflies, Silene nutans, sometimes called 

 the Nottingham catchfly, because it formerly grew in 

 such abundance near that town, and in still older days it 

 was called the Dover catchfly, because the cliffs there 

 for miles were starred in the evening with its fragrant 

 flowers. It is, alas ! not a common wild flower now, and for 

 those who love its rich scent it is well worth growing in 

 a garden where there is chalky soil. But the scent is 

 never so strong as when in its wild state. Even when 

 gathered and brought indoors this catchfly opens only in 

 the evening, and the scent in a room is overpowering. 

 The wild evening campion {Lychnis Vespertina) opens 

 its flowers during the day, but as its name implies it is 

 only in the evening that it breathes forth its incense. 

 The humble little Linnaea borealis, which grows wild in 

 parts of Norway and Scotland, scents the air round with 

 its delicious fragrance in the evening. Sowerby gives the 

 following account of this plant : ' For this most inter- 

 esting addition to the British Flora we are indebted 

 to Professor James Beattie, junior, of Aberdeen, who 

 188 



