124 THE FLOWER 



day when pollinated by diurnal, at niglit when by nocturnal, 

 insects, — ma}' be illustrated from a flower described by 

 Sir John Lubbock. ^ It is the Nottingham Catchfly, a 

 British and European plant related to our Chickweeds 

 and Pinks. " Each flower lasts three days, or rather three 

 nights. The stamens are ten in number, arranged in two 

 sets ; the one set standing in front of the sepals, the other 

 in front of the j^etals. Like other night flowers, it is 

 white, and opens toward evening, when it also becomes 

 very fragrant. The first evening, toward dusk, the five 

 stamens in front of the sepals grow very rapidl}' for about 

 two hours, so tliat they emerge from the flower ; the pollen 

 ripens, and is exposed by the bursting of the anther. So 

 the flower remains tlirough the night, very attractive to, 

 and much visited by, moths. Toward three in the morn- 

 ing the scent ceases, the anthers begin to shrivel up or 

 drop off, the filaments turn themselves outward, so as to 

 be out of the way, while the petals, on the contrary, begin 

 to roll themselves up, so that by daylight they close the 

 aperture of the flower, and present only their brownish 

 green under sides to view ; wliich, moreover, are thrown 

 into numerous wrinkles. Thus, by the morning's light, 

 the flower has all the appearance of being faded. It has 

 no smell, and the honey is covered over by the petals. 

 So it remains all day. Toward evening, however, ever}'- 

 thing is changed. Tlie petals unfold tliemselves ; by eiglit 

 o'clock the flower is as fragrant as before, the second set 

 of stamens have rapidly grown, their anthers are open, 

 and the pollen again exposed. By morning the flower is 

 again ' asleep,' the anthers are shriveled, the scent has 

 ceased, and tlie petals rolled up as before. The third 

 evening, again the same jjrocess occurs, but this time it 

 is the pistil wliich grows : the long spiral stigmas on the 

 third evening take the position wliicli on the previous 

 two had been occupied by anthers, aiid can hardly fail to 

 be dtxsted Ijy motlis with pollen brought from another 

 flower." 



1 Lubbock, "l')owers, Fruits, and Leaves," ilacaiillan, 1894, p. 40. 



