STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 



this gives it a crimped appearance which is singularly 

 pretty as well as curious. It has been stated that a flash 

 of phosphorescent light has been noticed at the instant the 

 flower opens, but I think a tiny flash of such pale light 

 would hardly be perceptible during the daylight; besides, 

 the petals unclose gradually the only sudden motion is the 

 unclasping of the enfolding calyx leaves which emprison 

 the corolla. Nevertheless it is a pretty idea, and it may be 

 a fact, though not as yet a fully established one. I think 

 it is Professor Lindley who has recorded the circumstance 

 in his " Natural System of Botany," from the observation 

 of some French naturalist. 



ENCHANTER'S NIGHTSHADE Circcea alpina (L.). 



With so ominous a name we might naturally expect to 

 find some sad lurid-looking poisonous weed or sombre- 

 leaved climber, instead of a very delicate, innocent-looking 

 leafy plant, with thin light-green foliage and tiny white 

 or pale pink blossoms dotted with minute spots of pale 

 yellow, something like the old garden plant London Pride. 

 One can hardly imagine so inoffensive a little flower being 

 introduced by the ancient sibyls into connection with their 

 unholy rites, nor understand why its classical name, 

 Circcea, after a horrible old enchantress, should have been 

 retained by our modern botanists. 



We often wonder at the Greek names given to plants 

 which are indigenous to other climes than Greece, and 

 retained even where the significance is so obscure as to 

 be questioned by our botanical writers. It is these hard 

 classical names that frighten youthful students, especially 

 young ladies, who are only too glad when they can meet 

 with names of flowers that give them an insight into the 



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