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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
108
Some
plants,
again,
have
gained
a
notoriety
from
opening
or
shutting
their
flowers
at
the
sun's
bidding;
in
allusion
to
which
Perdita
remarks
in
the
"Winter's
Tale"
(iv.
3):--
"The
marigold,
that
goes
to
bed
with
the
sun,
and
with
him
rises
weeping."
It
was
also
erroneously
said,
like
the
sun-flower,
to
turn
its
blossoms
to
the
sun,
the
latter
being
thus
described
by
Thomson:--
"The
lofty
follower
of
the
sun,
Sad
when
he
sets,
shuts
up
her
yellow
leaves,
Drooping
all
night,
and,
when
he
warm
returns,
Points
her
enamour'd
bosom
to
his
ray."
Another
plant
of
this
kind
is
the
endive,
which
is
said
to
open
its
petals
at
eight
o'clock
in
the
morning,
and
to
close
them
at
four
in
the
afternoon.
Thus
we
are
told
how:--
"On
upland
slopes
the
shepherds
mark
The
hour
when,
to
the
dial
true,
Cichorium
to
the
towering
lark,
Lifts
her
soft
eye,
serenely
blue."
And
as
another
floral
index
of
the
time
of
day
may
be
noticed
the
goat's-beard,
opening
at
sunrise
and
closing
at
noon--hence
one
of
its
popular
names
of
"Go
to
bed
at
noon."
This
peculiarity
is
described
by
Bishop
Mant:--
"And
goodly
now
the
noon-tide
hour,
When
from
his
high
meridian
tower
The
sun
looks
down
in
majesty,
What
time
about,
the
grassy
lea.
The
goat's-beard,
prompt
his
rise
to
hail,
With
broad
expanded
disk,
in
veil
Close
mantling
wraps
its
yellow
head,
And
goes,
as
peasants
say,
to
bed."
The
dandelion
has
been
nicknamed
the
peasant's
clock,
its
flowers
opening
very
early
in
the
morning;
while
its
feathery
seed-tufts
have
long
been
in
requisition
as
a
barometer
with
children:--
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
