130 THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 
for it. However, all do not see it equally well, 
and for this reason many claim that to see it one 
must be possessed of abnormal sight. 
But these strange ideas regarding the so-called 
“corpse-lights” and “will-of-the-wisps” are being 
fast exploded by science. Plants have a way of 
bottling up sunlight, and giving it forth when they 
desire; this phenomenon is well understood. The 
pokeweed gives forth a dark greenish lustre in the 
dark; and the scarlet poppy emits tiny waves of 
reddish light after sundown. 
The dainty snowdrop emanates light to a pro- 
nounced degree. Its drooping white blossoms ap- 
pear almost as so many dim electric bulbs. 
On the western plains of Texas there grows an 
orange-yellow flower in great abundance, which 
is known as the Alamo-weed. This plant gives 
forth a very strong light, a steady glow, which is 
evident at a distance during the hours of darkness. 
To most residents of the temperate and torrid 
zones, the tiny “lightning bug” is a familiar sight 
on summer evenings; and on the Texas plains, 
where the Alamo-weed finds its home, there are 
great quantities of these phosphorescent insects. 
During the daylight hours the flowers of the 
Alamo-weed, a phosphorescent plant, are thickly 
covered with apparently slumbering phosphores- 
