The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-10-29
PLANTS THAT GO TO SLEEP.
Floral Wonders of Sumatra and India.
Esg ABotanicaI Clock.

During Journey in India" cOntin-
ued the botanSt. Il made the acquaint-
ance of Il number of flowers and some
of exceeding interest What would You
think now of riding along through the
wood and coming upon flower that
offered q fair Jump for your hOrse--ln
other words was three or four fees
across and twelve feet in circumference.
Well, this was the experience of an
acquaintance i'm Sumatra where some Or
the most remarkable creations Of tho
floral world are found This flower Was
about all There was to tho plant; roots,
steam, and everything seemed to hINo
been sacrificed to make up the enormous
flower, that weighed, he estimated
fifteen pounds or more.
Tho odor must have been Of several
horse power" suggested the listener
so il was. was tho reply; so strong,
overpowcring, and offensive that it was
impossible to remain within close proX-
unity to it. Tho central portion consti-
tnted Il cup that held about two quarts Of
water, and as this was filled with insects,
dead and maccratcd, it might have been
the cause of the odor. These .antic
creations Of tho vegetable VOL arc
comparatively rare; only few have been
seen, and mono brought to Europe Some
of the plants that | noticed had u re-
marlab Die iacIllty Of going to sleep, just
about as We wOull ourselves ono
large leafcd fern particularly attracted
my attention, as it grew ut my door
yard. In tho daytime the leaves WcrO
upright, but soon as The sun disap
Peared they became o'r;tsig;.lly depressed,
and were sooa completely closed up
actually fast asleep only opening out
when the sun rose he 1t morning
But | need not lake yuu t. India to
see plants asleep; many of our own put
on tho nght-cap Ehero is in reality no
direct analogy between the slcep OF
animals and plants, only we know that
during the day the leaves # some arc i'm
activity, and at might they are mt;
hence We ASSUME that they arc at rcSt,
or sleeping Take a. an example the
acacia tree, or wood sorrrI and whito
clover; comptro the positions of their
leaves during tho right and dav Tho
wood Sorrel resembles clover each leave
having three hcart-;,hape,l Iobcs con-
ncctcd to tho stalk by Il slender stem.
Now in tho daytime thoy are spread
ont Just as are the clover l"ay =. but
watch them rs nj ~iI5 comes on, and Won
VII notice u ""ldual cIpsint ~.
Finally each leaf WI be found i h.lvo
completely closed and fallen down, rest
ing on the foot stalk.
Besides movements at NIGHT and
morning, many plants have motion;
moro or less dependent upon tho
weather, and many curious devices hayo
been suggested 10 utilize them in clocks.
barometers, and 50 on. On this priaci-
pie botanical clock has been mad,
and that it is possible is evident from mo
fact that thcro is not an hour in tire day
bat what some plants blooms; thus
the purple conyOlVulvus blooms at , Il.
m; the flor de Note at 3 or T. tn, goats
beard ut 4, yellow Arctic poppy at ), tho
nipplewOrt at g. SOW thistle at !, no
lama at 8, red SandWort at 10, fi9 mari
gold at II, and 50 on, and by thus ar
ranging these You surely have II time
piece of nature.
A very fair weather Indicator can DO
made Of the little capsules Ct Ms M
bryanthcmum Tripolium hy placing
them in 1t dish of water If rain is
threatened tho seed vessel opens like :
star, closing again when tho shower is
over; and u number of plants have tho
same property.
Perhaps, said tho botanical arti.t,
~thcro IS nothing that strikes ono - re
markably It's the rapid growth of Somo
plants. remember seeing plot in
Florida that appeared 80 suddenly ! =
my window that spoke to Inv host
about it, and remarked That h. had been
planting; but Ire avcirnd that it had
grown up in the night ut least foot.
1t seemed little too much Ike Jack
and the bean stalk, but I measured tho
plant and was finally convinced This
is nothing. however, To the growth of
some hambooI, tlat actually lcu@Itcn
three feet III tW1nty four hours. In fact,
the facts of botanical science are as re-
m1rkaba aSauy ima ,ination would havo
them, and, curiousIy enough, some OF
the old stories Of plant wonders that
We're considered fables hava been shown
to be- founded on fact. New York
Post