OUR COMPOUND FLCWEBS. 123 



yet the Golden-rod and some Thistles, the Horse-gowan and Feverfew, 

 the Daisy and Rag-weeds linger in sheltered spots, — on sunny hraes 

 and in deans, — and some will tarry there until Christmas has told 

 her tale. The Sow-thistle, and the Groundsel in especial, are so in- 

 different to summer's heat or winter's cold, that our children have 

 registered the fact in a doggrel rhyme : — - 



" Through storm and wind. 

 Sunshine and shower, 

 Still will you find 

 Groundsel in flower." 



In reference to the form of their flowers, the Syngenesia may be 

 divided into four classes, — the semi-flosculous, represented by' the 

 Dandelion, and of these we have one blue, and twenty-two yellow 

 species ; the radiant, of which we have eight species, that, like the 

 Daisy, have a white frill and a yellow disk, but seven others are 

 entirely yellow, and one has a blue circumference ; the capitate or 

 Thistle-tribe, all of which have purplish flowers, tending sometimes 

 to red, and sometimes varying in white ; and the discoid, in which 

 class there are twelve yellow species, three white, and two purplish 

 or red. Yellow and purple are therefore the predominant colours of 

 the order, but, from their abundance and showiness, some of the 

 white kinds show most in the landscape. The semi-flosculous and 

 radiant classes are all of them noted followers of the sun : awaiting 

 his rise with closed or nutant heads, they expand them under his 

 warm influence, glory in his meridian glare, and, pursuing his course, 

 they again close up their heads, or bow them when he begins to sink 

 in the west. So familiar are the phenomena, that we are wearied 

 with the comparisons and similes they have originated ; — it is now a 

 lover's constancy, representing, in sweet verse, his alternate joy and 

 sorrow, — it is an emblem of christian love, and then of divine favour 

 or displeasure. — The time of the opening and closing of the flowers 

 is so various, that it has been attempted to construct a watch for 

 Flora from the observation of various species. Thus, in our district, 

 the Goat's-beard opens, as in Sweden, at 3 a.m., and closes between 

 9 and 10 a.m. or earlier; the Dandelion opens about 7 in the 

 morning, and does not close until 5, or a little later ; it is after 

 8 o'clock before the Daisy awakes, and it has faulded up its e'e at 

 4 in April, and towards the middle of May, 5 appears to be its hour 

 of rest. I have not noted the hours with any accuracy in our remain- 

 ing species, and it must be remembered that the plants are regulated 

 in some degree by the position they occupy in relation to the setting 

 sun ; nor is the phenomenon exhibited at all when the day is wet, nor 

 after the discharge of the pollen from the anthers. 



himself sober.'' p. 126.— And Sir Humphry Davy writes, in conclusion of 

 a pleasant page, — " But see, there are two or three Humhle-bees which 

 seem languid with the cold, and yet they, have their tongues still in the 

 fountain of honey ; I believe one of them is actually dead, yet his mouth 

 is still attached to the flower. He has fallen asleep, and probably died whilst 

 making his last meal of ambrosia." Salmonia, p. 219. 



