The Honeysuckle 



dies for thetn to be revealed in their true vivid 

 character. " The honeysuckle ht the matted boughs 

 with Cressets burning odour," says a modem poet,* 

 and true it is that only as the hedgerows fade into 

 dusk do the Honeysuckle flowers begin to gleam 

 in the shadows and pour out lavish streams of 

 fragrance. For the Honeysuckle is primarily a 

 flower of the night, little as this is generally realised. 

 Take a spray of Honeysuckle just about to 

 burst into flower. The deep creamy buds, closely 

 set together, stand upright side by side, each a tube 

 an inch or more long, thickening and crimson-tinted 

 towards the tip. About seven o'clock in the evening 

 those which are to flower that day suddenly relax 

 the narrow under-lobe of their corolla, and it curls 

 backwards ; the wide, upper lobe, edged with four 

 teeth, quickly follows suit ; the stamens spread 

 apart hke the fingers of a hand, and within a space 

 of two or three minutes the bud has become a full- 

 blown flower. Further, it has moved from its 



* John Davidson. 

 35 



