, 1885-10-07
r-ANrs rHAr co " anErr.


A botanical tlook.
-During a Journey in India. eontin-
ucd the botauist. Il made the aruutiut-
ance of "A number of ilowers. and some
of exceeding interest. What would YOU
think now Of riding along through the
wood and coming upon = flower that
offered n fair jump for your horse-in
other words, was three or four feet
across and twelve feet in circumference.
Well, this was the experience of AN
acquaintance in Sumntra, where some ut
the most remarkable creations Of the
floral world ARE found. This flower was
about all there was 10 ths plant. roots.
steam, and everything seemed to have
been sacrificed Ia MAKE up the enormous
Hover, that weighed. he estimated,
fifteen pounds or more"
The odor must have been Of several
horse power, suggested itl lis,lor.
$50 IL VA, Was the rr, -siftr ng.
-oyerpoNcring. and of thu 8; VA,
impossible to rrmtiu viinia u 81 proS-
imtf Ia II. The c.u:Gi pJi.3l cnlsji-
tuiei 4 cup that lwil u,,sis t.s..rlrsot
watrr. AMI Asthls ~ls ill.,. ath lutiets,
dead and ma-rritr :. il mie'.t ht,c been
thr cltsr Of the od.T. Thr,e rientic
creation. Of the vrx-i bile wn.l are
cOunptfiti civ rare: ouly afty have been
seen, and nnc brought Ia EIrpps. some
Of thf plants that ! noticed hal a re-.
m1rklble faculty Of going To sleep Just
about as We would ourselves. ono
largc-lrafed fern particularly attracted
my attention, Is II grew at my door
yard. In The daytime the leave, wero
UfsrfUNF Irf IA. AnIn ca. Ala .Hlr. flEA4Ht-
peared they became gradually d'prr- ael,
and were soon completely closed up
actually fast asleep, only opening out
when the sun rose ncNt morning.
"But | need not take You To- In ia to
see plants asleep; many Of our own put
on the night-cap. There is in reality no
direct analogy between the sleep Of
animals and plants. only We know that
during the day the leaves Of some are in
activity and at uight they are not;
hence we assume that they ar Mt r ~,
or sleeping. Take as an example the
acacia tree, or wood sorrsl. auI waite
clover; compare the positions of their
leaves during the night and day. Tho
wood sorrel resembles clover. each l-avc
having three heart shaped loics con
nected 10 the stalk by Il slender stem.
Now in the daytime they are spread
out just rs are the clover leaves. but
watch them rs night M ON. and YOU
will notice n g|raiIul cl,ing tut
Finally each leaf Will b. f1II 10 hlyo
completely closed and fallen down. rest
ing ON the foot-stalk.
Besides movements at night and
morning, mnny plants have motions
more or les, dependent upon the
weather, and many curious devices have
been suggested TO utilize them in clocks,
baronetrrs. and so on. On this princi-
pie a botanical clock has been made,
and that it is possible is evident from the
fact that there IL not All hour in the day
but what some plants blooms: thus
the purple cOnyolyulvus blooms at , a.
III, the flor de nottc at 3 or 4. the goats
beard at 4, yellow Arctic poppy at 3. tho
nipplewort at q, SOW thistle at :. no
lana at ., red sandwort at 10. fig mari
gold at If, and so on, and by thus ar
ranging these You surely have a time
piece Of nature.
"A very fair weather indicator can be
made Of the little capsules of Messem-
bryanthemum Tripolium by placing
them i'll a dish Of water. Ii rain is
threatened the seed vessel opens like n
star, closing again when the shower is
over; and u number Of plants have the
same property.
Perhaps, - said the botanical artist,
there il nothing that strikes one so r.
markably rs the rapid growth of some
plants. ! remember seeing a plot in
Florida that appeared so suddenly by