THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
237 
leave philosophers to decide. Those who take an inter¬ 
est in such subjects as these may find examples in the 
Hedysarum gyrans,*also in the common Clover, notably 
in the flowers of the Berberis, when the bases of the fila¬ 
ments are touched by the point of a pin, and in the 
beautiful Aspen tree (Populus tremula), the leaves of 
which are always on the mo Gardeners' Magazine. 
* Wo cannot close this article without further notice of this re¬ 
markable plant, which is now known ns Dcsmodium gyrans. This 
plant belongs to the family of Leguminaccoe, Diadtlphia-Tctragy- 
nia of the Linnrcan system. It was discovered in Bengal, in the 
neighborhood of Daca, by an English lady, named Morrison, whose 
devotion to natural history had led her to undertake the Indian voy¬ 
age, and who died on one of her botanical excursions. The singular 
spontaneous rotary motion of the leaflets of this plant renders it an 
object of great interest. The leaves are composed of three leaflets, 
the terminal one being very large, and the laterals very small, but 
these are almost constantly in motion. They execute little jerks 
somewhat analagous to the movements of the seconds of a watch. 
One of the leaflets arises, and the other descends at the same time 
and with a corresponding force. When the first begins to descend, 
the other begins to rise. The large leaflet moves also, inclining it¬ 
self first to the right, then to the left, but by a continuous and very 
slow movement when compared with that of the lateral leaflets. 
This singular mechanism endures throughout the life of the plant. 
It exercises itself day and night, through drought and humidity. 
The warmer and more humid the day, the more lively are its move¬ 
ments. It is not unusual for the leaflet to make sixty jerks in the 
minute; they will not do this, however, under artificial cultivation, 
except when the plant is subjected to great heat. These movements 
occur spontaneously and without any apparent cause. The same 
external cause that has such a wonderful effect on the Catch-fly and 
the Sensitive plant, does not affect this in the least. 
WATER-LILIES. 
I muse along, as the twilight falls 
Over the gray old castle walls, 
Where a sleepy lake through the lazy hours 
Crispy mirrors the time-worn towers: 
And scarce a whisper rustles the sedge, 
Or a ripple lisps to the water’s edge, 
As far and wide, on the tideless stream, 
The matted Water-Lilies dream. 
I stood, in the quiet even-fall, 
Where, in the ancient banquet hall, 
Over the hearth is a panel placed, 
By some old Florenline chisel chased, 
Showing a slender, graceful child, 
In the flowing robes of a wood-nymph wild, 
Bending over the wavy flood 
As she stoops to gather a Lily bud. 
In words as quaint as the carving old, 
An aged dame the story told, 
How au earl’s daughter, long ago, 
A strange, pale child, with a brow of snow, 
Had loved, and lost her life for the sake 
Of the Lilies that grew in her father’s lake, 
Holding them ever her favorite flower; 
Till once, in the hush of a twilight hour, 
Floating among them, out in the stream 
Where the passionless blossoms nod and dream, 
They found her lying, white ajid dead, 
“ Like a sister Lily,” the old dame said. 
And a sadness, born of the old-world tale, 
Haunts me still, while the starlight pale * 
Gleams on the leaves, so green and wet, 
Where the changeless Lilies are floating yet; 
And a message I fain would read aright, 
Seems to lurk in each chalice white— 
A secret, guarded fold on fold, 
As it guards its own deep heart of gold, - 
And only told to the listening ear 
Of him who humbly tries to hear. 
Oh! mystic blossom floating there, 
Thing of the water, thing of the air, 
We claim thee still, as we hold the dead, 
Anchored to earth by a golden thread.— Selected. 
A CURIOUS PLANT. 
One of the most interesting and curious plants of 
which we have any knowledge grows in India. It is 
one of the Pitcherplant f am ily, the Discliidia RaJJlesiana. 
It creeps with a long, twining stem, which is destitute 
of leaves until near its summit. This stem may extend 
a hundred feet or more from the roots. It would seem 
that both the length of stem and the fewness of the 
leaves would make it difficult for the flow of sap to be 
maintained. 
However this may be, whatever may be the possibilities 
of Nature in this direction for the plant, we perceive a 
curious provision by which it is largely independent of its 
ground roots either for moisture or food. Along the 
stem we find suspended long cylindrical vessels, appar¬ 
ently formed of a leaf with the edges rolled towards 
each other, and adherent, with an open mouth. These 
commonly contain water gathered from rain and dew, 
and form a trap for ants and insects, which go there to 
quench their thirst, but find an untimely grave. 
The decay of these forms a nutritive fluid, from which 
the plant might feed if it only had a way of reaching it 
with its roots. Rootlets spring from the stem, and enter 
the vessel to drink and feed from a fluid a cunning in¬ 
stinct has contrived. We are almost tempted to say 
the genius of . this plant it superior to its morals. There 
is no innocence in laying a trap for the poor fellow who 
seeks your spring for a drink, and drowning him and 
eating him in secret. 
