THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 465 



one of the green-houses of the garden at Upsala. Having 

 noticed it flowering in the morning, what was his astonish- 

 ment, as he j)assed by the plant in the middle of the night, 

 to find that he could not see its flowers! At first the 

 botanist thought that some unprincipled amateur had 

 robbed him of them; but on looking more attentively at 

 the plant, he found that it was against itself the charge of 

 larceny would have to be preferred. In fact, the naturalist 

 observed that each evening the leaves of this Lotus assumed 

 a particular position, which hid the corollas:^ it was their 

 Avay of sleeping. 



Thinking that such a phenomenon would not be an isol- 

 ated one, Linnaius after this passed the nights in wander- 

 ing about in his garden, with a torch in his hand, to verify 

 the results. In this way he noticed that a great number 

 of plants assume a particular attitude when they give 

 themselves up to sleep: this is due to their need of repose, 

 which, as in most animals, coincides with the want of light. 



In certain families of the vegetable kingdom the plants 

 are even so transformed during their sleep that they are 

 not recognizable. The aspect of a forest or a savannah 

 is sometimes absolutely changed by it. Many bring their 

 boughs nearer to the stem, and apply their leaves one to 

 the other, so as to be a mutual protection against the 

 cold. Whoever has seen a sensitive plant during the night, 

 with its boughs drooping, and, as it were, overpowered 

 by fatigue, with its leaflets folded together like eyelids 

 which close, will admit that at such times it rests and 

 sleeps. 



The phenomenon we are speaking of is seen in a much 



1 The sleep of plants was first observed in India, on the tamarind tree, by 

 Garcias de Horto in 1567 ; after this in 1581 by Val Cordus on the liquorice ; 

 but it was LinuEeus who first really demonstrated the nature of it. 



