43 



drawal of the sun. Leguminous plants exhibit it most freely ; 

 every one has noticed how the common Locust folds its 

 leaves at night, and so keeps them till they are relaxed by 

 the morning sun. The common Sensitive Mimosa takes on 

 with something of violence, when touched, the same state in 

 which it rests at night, yet this is hardly a state of repose or 

 relaxation, but quite the reverse, being a somewhat strained 

 or contracted condition. Composite flowers are slightly 

 affected in the same way and close their heads at night and 

 during storms. Such as the Dandelion, Succory, (fee. 



" Oft as light clouds o'erpass the Biunmer glade, 

 Alarmed, she trembles at the moving shade ; 

 And feels, alive through all her tender form, 

 The whispered murmurs of the gathering storm." 



Many flowers open in the morning and close at night; 

 but some reverse this rule, as the Night-blooming Cereus. 



" Bright as the blush of rising morn, she warms 

 The dull cold eye of midnight with her charms." 



The Evening Primrose opens its petals with some violence 

 at night, and as some say, with a flash of phosphorescent 

 light. The Four o'clock, opening late in the day, continues 

 expanded all night, and droops in the morning, leaving its 

 place well supplied by the Convolvulus or " Morning Glory." 



Even the passing of a few clouds, or a slight shower, are 

 enough to affect certain plants. Whole beds of tulips, pre- 

 viously drinking in the sunlight, to tinge their many colored 

 robes, shut hastily with the plash of the first rain drops. 

 The Anagallis, called the " Poor Man's Weather Glass" is 

 more sensitive still, for, by repute, it anticipates these changes 

 so truly, that fine weather always follows its expansion. 



Such movements are natural, beneficial, and certainly, 

 evidences of life ; but whether they point to a real share of 

 sentient happiness and consequent disposition to avoid dan- 

 ger, is not easy to say. Something like faintness is now and 

 then seen among plants ; the Impatiens or Jewel-weed droops 

 so quickly, on being plucked, that its very life seems to cs- 

 liale from the wound. We see no such exhalation ; neither 

 do we from the leaves of the forest, which send up clouds of 

 vapor Kke a perpetual incense ; if such were visible, we 

 ■might gain more vivid ideas of vegetable life. 



We notice also the means by which climbing plants ascend. 



