Night Flowers 213 
that one season, when my garden yielded twenty 
large heads of bloom, each bearing many flowers, 
only eight capsules’ formed. 
But the night-flowers which blow in the fields, 
even when they are of foreign descent, have near 
kin among the aborigines of the soil. So each 
has its insect attendant, faithful to the family, time 
out of mind, and their sweetness is not wasted, 
nor does Nature’s purpose for them fail. 
The most familiar nocturnal wild-flower east of 
the Alleghanies is the evening primrose (Gxothera 
biennis) (Fig. 58). It is extremely common every- 
where in the Northern Atlantic states—along road-. 
sides, in’ fence corners, and around the edges of 
thickets. By day its appearance is uninteresting. A 
stalk from three to six feet tall bears a profusion 
of long, narrow, rather coarse leaves, and above 
them a spire of faded flowers and buds. In the 
afternoon the primrose has nothing to show but 
fading flowers and buds, and one is reminded of 
‘“‘jam yesterday and jam to-morrow—but never 
jam to-day,” in ‘‘Alice in Wonderland.” The 
faded blossoms bloomed the night before last, the 
wilting ones were beautiful last night, the large 
buds above them will expand this evening. About 
sunset or a little sooner, if the plant is in the 
