FLOWERS. 



31 



Umbel, Carrot. 



worth witnessing, to see in the 

 same forest perhaps hundreds of 

 these lovely blossoms hanging in 

 profusion from the branches of 

 the trees, and loading the atmo- 

 sphere with the most delicious 

 fragrance. The plants upon 

 which they grow are parasites, 

 and fasten their roots into the 

 trunks and branches of the trees. The flowers are 

 white, and very large, often measuring as much as 

 nine or ten inches in diameter. They commence to 

 blow early in the evening, and remain open during 

 most of the night, when they close, to bloom no more. 

 But the Evening Primrose is a much more familiar 

 instance in which the approach of darkness is hailed 

 by the opening flower. This beautiful and interesting 

 plant grows abundantly in our fields, and on the 

 borders of our woods; and is frequently culti- 

 vated in our gardens. It unfolds its pale yellow blos- 

 soms in the latter part of the day, and 

 the process of opening is of so re- 

 markable a nature as to claim parti- 

 cular notice. The divisions of the 

 calyx are furnished with little hooks 

 at their extremities, by which the 

 flower is held together before expan- 

 sion. These divisions open gradually 

 at the bottom, so as to show the yel- 

 low corolla within, when suddenly the 

 flower bursts from its confinement, and opens about 



Corymb, Candy 

 Tuft. 



