The Opelousas courier., 1886-12-25
THE RAIN TREE.
And Some Other Remarkable
Fosh1s Of Vegetation.
Plants Which Exude Water-sensitive
Plants and Floral I'imepleees.

A letter from Pasadena, Southern
California, to the San Francisco Ca1
says: About nine years ago, a sensational
story concerning a "rain" tree went the
rounds of the press, to the effect that in
| the Vera Paz Mountains of south
America a tree had been discovered that
was ever dripping with water, so that
whoever stood beneath it was sure OF a
| shower bath. This was al exaggeratlon,
| but founded on fact. The rain tree Is the
! one known to acience as Pithecolo6aum
sonaan, and in the month OF April q fine
spray has been seen to drop from the
young leaves, SO that the soil beneath
was moist to some extent. When the
leaves are fully grown the phenomenon
ceases. The liquid is supposed to be a
secretion from glands on the foot stalk
of the leaf. DIR. Bruce, a South Ameri-
can traveller, in a Kew Garden
report says: The Iamio- easpi or rain
tree, of the Eastern Peruvian Andes,
is not a myth to a certain ex-
tent. I first witnessed the phenomenon
in September, 1856, when residing in a
large village a few days eastward of
Moyobamba. A little after 7 o'clock we
came under a lowish-spreading tree,
from which, with a perfectly clear sky
overhead, a smart rain was falling. A
glance upward showed a multitude OF
cicadas sucking the juices of the tender
branches and leaves, and squirting forth
slender streams of limpid fluid" In
Negro Canon, opposite Pasadena, l have
seen a fine rain dropping from certain
trees, where there were no insects to ex-
plain it. DR.. Ernst has noticed O rainy
mist in Venezuela in a clear sky, and
claims that it was produced without the
intervention of insects.
Many of the sensitive plants would
thrive in this country, and we already
have a plant that appears to go to sleep
at night, the leaves closing up. The
sensitive plants are those that when
touched close up as if alarmed, and it is
not to be wondered at that the ancients
thought that they were endowed with
animal life. One of the most interesting
of these forms is the Mimosa pudica.
When awake the leaves stand out, look
ing like the fronds Of some forest ferns,
but at night they close up and hang down,
having evidently gone to sleep. They
also close when touched. The telegraph
plant of Bengal is still more remarkable.
If it is closely watched the lateral leaf
lets will be seen moving all the time
throughout the day, exactly as if they
were trying to escape from their stocks.
They not only move up and down, but
round and found in a circle, a result of
the actual twisting of the stalk. If a
leaf is cut off and placed in water, these
various motions may be observed for a
day or two after. If the motion is pre-
vented for a moment it is resumed with
greater velocity than ever. The sun may
have something to do with it, as when
its rays are upon the plant the activity
is greatest. This shrub belongs to the
order of broom acacia, the furze and
others. Our wood sorrel has an ally in
India whose leaves seem to try to escape
when touched, moving downward from
the hand. If branch is touched with
the finger, with a ve-y slight jar, all the
leaves will drop or shrink away and
each individual leaf may be closed by
touching it.
Every n who keeps a garden must
have noticed that certain flowers have
certain times for closing up or going to
sleep, as it were, the common four o'clock
being SO punctual that it has earned its |
name from this circumstance, and even as
far back as the time of Linnaus a floral
clock was thought of and is by no means
an imposibility, and can be made as fol
lows: Arrange a plat like the face of a
clock, perhaps thirty eject in diameter,
having the hour markings in some con-
spicuous plant, in this way reproducing
the face of a clock. At the Q o'clock a. |
m. mark plant the purple convolvulus;
at 8 and 4, the prior de notte 4 a. m.,
g%oatsbeard; 5 a. M, yellow arctic poppy:
Q, nipplewort; $50, SOW thistle; Z a. M,
water lilies or Venus looking glass; 8 a.
H., scarlet pimeral; 8, marigold; 10 a. |
NJ, red sandwort; IL. fig marigold; 10,
blue passion flower; | and 2 p. m. ; 5 and
g p. M, night-dowering catchfy;
q p. M, white evenings; q
p. M, night-fowering cereus and
some other, according to the taste
OF the clockmaker, and careful investi-
cation will show that there are forms |
that not only 'tbloom in the spring.
but every half and quarter hour of the
day and night. None of the Call read
ers would perhaps care to keep their
appointments by floral time, but as a
very pretty experiment in the way of q
novelty (it is only 100 years old), it is a
very interesting ono lila oil olooI~n -