LUMINOUS FLOWERS. 121 



CHAPTER XVI. 



LUMINOUS FLOWERS. 



AMONG the earliest observers of phosphorescent flowers 

 may be mentioned a young Swedish girl, the daughter 

 of Linnaeus, the eminent naturalist. While walking in the 

 garden one sultry night, she saw what was described as a 

 " lightning-like phosphorescence " about the flowers of the 

 nasturtium (^Tropmolum majus). The sparks, or flashes, were 

 also visible early in the morning, but, curiously enough, 

 were not apparent in complete darkness ; the time between 

 day and night evidently being the most favorable for the 

 exhibition. This observation was made in 1762, and the 

 young girl lived to the advanced age of ninety-six, often 

 repeating the story. 



In 1843 Mr. Dowden, an English botanist, noted a similar 

 display in the double variety of a common marigold. Several 

 friends were with him at the time ; and, by shading the flower, 

 they distinctly saw a golden-colored lambent light playing 

 from petal to petal, so that an almost uninterrupted corona 

 was formed about the disk. 



Others have observed this peculiarity in this flower and 

 in the hairy red poppy (^Papaver pilosum). A correspondent 

 of the " Gardner's Chronicle " writes, " We witnessed 

 (June 10, 1858) this evening, a little before nine o'clock, 



