Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-17
PLANBSAS BAROMETERS
FLOWERS THAT FoRErEL1
CHANGES OF THE WEATHER.
Powers ofIthe Dandelion and the Pim-
II u
pernel III Marigold Fol-
lows Sun.


| very interesting branch of weather
/ lore is that associated with plants. In many
| parts of the country the peasantry place
/ more reliance upon the natural barometefs
| and the habits of animals than upon the
| various scientific contrivances for lore
| casting the condition of the weather Thus
| from time immemorial the little scarlet
pimpernel has been a fayorite flower with
| rural folk for demonstrating the weather,
| and, according to popular rhyme, II
| Sleeps till sun has dried the grass.
Then wakes and spreads Its creeping bloom
Then close it shuts to sleeps again,
! Which weeders see and talk OF rain
By means of closing its petals before rain
| 1t is almost universally known IN country
districts as 'the poor mans weatherglass.
| In fine weather it remains open the whole
| OF the day. Gerald Gin his "Herbar), allud-
ing to 1t as weather prognostlcator, says
This plant in summer, and especially IN
the month of August, at what time the
husbandmen, having occasion to go to their
harvest work, will just behold the flower
of the pimpernel, whereby they know the
weather that will follow the next day after
as, for example, if the flowers be close
shut up. it betokeneth rain and foul wealth
err The flowers of the chickweed, too, re-
main closed when rain is at hand.
The Dandelion.
Among the various other plants supposed
to portend rain may be mentioned the dan
delion, the down of which contracts on the
approach of wet weather, while another
writer tells us that ''if the down flies off
coltsfoot, dandelion, and thistles when
there Is no wind it is a certain sign of
rain" Another plant which is held to pos
sess special characteristics in this respect
Is the marigold, inasmuch as it not only
closes its corola when rain is near, but it
is said always to turn it's face toward the
sun: There is modicum of truth in the
saying, and no more; although it is truer
of the marigold than of the sunflower, of
which the poet Thomson writes:
But one, the lofty follower of the Sun,
SAD when ne set shuts up her yellow leaves.
Points her bosom to his ray
Another popularity attributed to the
beautiful marigold is that it opens or shuts
it's flowers at the bidding of the sun, to
which Perdita makes allusion in the
Winters Tale" (act Nv, SC. 81:
The marigold that goes to bed with the sun,
And with him rises weeping
Herald of the Cuckoo.
Nor should one in these jottings forget
the cuckoo-fower, with its large, purplish
corolla, which gems the meadows and
woodsides in April and May, and gets its
names from the fact that it is supposed to
announce the coming of the two-note bird.
There are several other flowers that are
called cuckeofowers, for the same reason
among them the ragged-robin. Speaking of
the cuckoo and its arrival recalls rhyme
that Surrey woman once recited to the
writer 1t was
IL the cuckoo comes before the gale
Inc year VIII have anxious tale:
But If the gale be first to sing
Its note harvest glad will bring
The gale of course, being the nightin-
gale.
The famous Linnaeus gives a similar
piece or weather lore in connection with
the wild mignonette. He says: Its spike
Of blossoms ever follows the course of the
sun, even on cloudy day, turning at sun
rise TO the east, at MONDAY looking I'D to
the south, and in the afternoon marking
the west, and with it's half-closed flowers
at night pointing due to the north
Teazle Controls Weather.
Formerly In those parts where the teazle
grows the country people used to gather
and hang 1t up in their cottages. under the
superstitfous notion that when a change
OF weather was at hand it would alter It's
experimentation the alteration of cold and
WINDY weather growing smoother and
against rain closing up its prickles' Pm,
alahougn TINS IS a doubtful saying of the
,eaZle IL Is perfectly true that the delicate
lttie wood sorrel (Which some call the reS
shamrock) closes it's blossoms at the leo
touch or damp in the evening, and Ione
peiore the storm approaches it's triplet of
leaves is firmly compressed. VI
Farmers of the good old tyne NOV, r.,,,
be found who arrange their agricultura1 on
eratlons according to the habits of nIant.
mus the leafing of the elm is in soma
places made to regulate the sowing of bar
ley, and the writer has heard the fo11on,ir..
quoted by northern farmer as good a rr;
cultural lore: e'o "sii-
when the emen leaf is as big as a -no,
In men ,. to SOW barley never fear ''e' ear
But when the elmen leaf Is as big as nm w.. 49,
l., Hiaf'