34-6 
The Dial of Flowers. 
Nevertheless, as some of our readers may like to try the 
experiment, a list of flowers, noted for their regularity, is 
subjoined. 
TIME OF FOLDING AND UNFOLDING. 
H. M. 
Goat’s-beard (Tragopogon luteum) . . . . . • 3 ° 
Late-flowering Dandelion (Leontodon serotinum) . . . 4 ° 
Hawk weed (Pricris echioidesj .4 ° 
Alpine Hawk’s-beard (Crespis Alpina.) .4 ° 
Wild Succory (Cichorium intybus) ..4 ° 
Naked-stalked Poppy (Papaver nudicaule) .... 5 ° 
Copper-coloured Day-Lily (Hemerocallis fulva) . . . 5 ° 
Smooth Sowthistle (Sonchus Icevis) . . • • • • S ° 
Blue-flowered Sowthistle (Sonchus A Ipimcs) . . . . S ° 
Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) ..5 x 5 
Common Nipplewort ( Lapsana communis) . . . . 5 J 5 
Spotted Cat’s-ear (Hypochceris maculata) . 6 o 
White Water-Lily (Nymphcea alba) .7 ° 
Garden Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) . . . . . . 7 ° 
African Marygold (Tagetes erecta) ..7 ° 
Mouse-ear Hawkweed (Hieracium pilosella) . . . . 8 o 
Proliferous Pink (Diantlms proliferus) .8 o 
Field .Mary"old (Calendula arvensis) ..... 9 ° 
Purple Sandwort (Arenaria imrpurea) .9 *5 
Creeping Mallow (Halva. Caroliniana) . . . . • 9 1 5 
Chickweed (Stellaria media) . . ■ ... 9 1 5 
H. M. 
9 ° 
12 O 
12 O 
12 O 
8 is 
7 o 
7 IS 
11 IS 
12 O 
4 IS 
io o 
4 o 
5 ° 
IO o 
3 ° 
2 O 
1 O 
3 ° 
2 O 
12 O 
9 i5 
The poetical idea of a dial of flowers excited the imagina¬ 
tion of one of England’s truest poets ; and, under that quaint 
title, she—Mrs. Hemans—has bequeathed to posterity some of 
her sweetest verses : 
“ ’T was a lovely thought to mark the 
hours, 
As they floated in light away, 
By the opening and folding flowers, 
That laugh to the Summer’s day. 
“ Thus had each moment its own rich 
hue, 
And its graceful cup and bell, 
In whose coloured vase might sleep the 
dew, 
Like a pearl in an ocean shell. 
“ To such sweet signs might the time 
have flowed 
In a golden current on, 
Ere from the garden, man’s first abode, 
The glorious guests were gone. 
“ So might the days have been brightly 
told— 
Those days of song and dreams— 
When shepherds gathered their flocks 
of old 
By the blue Arcadian streams ; 
“ So, in those isles of delight, that 
rest 
Far off in a breezeless main, 
Which many a bark with a weary 
guest 
Has sought, but still in vain. 
“Yet is not life, in its real flight, 
Marked thus — even thus — on 
earth, 
By the closing of one hope’s delight, 
And another’s gentle birth? 
“ Oh, let us live so that, flower by 
flower, 
Shutting in turn, may leave 
A lingerer still for the sunset hour, 
A charm for the shaded eve! ” 
