250 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



and some of these exhibit very peculiar movements. 

 In one class the leaflets bend downwards at night, in 

 another, they rise upwards, and, in a third, partly up 

 and partly down. The last is the most curious, for 

 the leaflets are numerous, and spread out like the 

 fingers of an open hand. There may be eight or 

 nine of these leaflets, those nearest the base being 

 the shortest. At night the shorter leaflets, which 

 face the centre of the plant, are depressed, whilst the 

 longest leaflets on the opposite side are elevated, the 

 intermediate ones being slightly twisted. In this 

 way the leaves form during the night a kind of 

 vertical star, the edges of the leaflets being directed 

 towards the zenith, whereas during the day the 

 position of the leaves is horizontal, with the upper 

 surface turned towards the zenith. 



A curious circumstance is related of a plant of the 

 yellow lupin {Lupinus hctens), in which different 

 leaves on the same plant went to sleep in a different 

 manner. Two leaves, the leaflets of which at noon 

 stood at about forty-five degrees above the horizon, 

 rose at night to sixty-five or sixty-nine, so that they 

 formed a hollow cone with steep sides. Four leaves 

 on the same plant, which were horizontal at noon, 

 formed vertical stars at night, and three other leaves, 

 which were equally horizontal at noon, had all the 

 leaflets sloping downwards at night. 1 It is difficult 



1 Darwin, " Movements of Plants." p. 343. 



