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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
111
In
short,
it
will
be
found
that
most
of
our
counties
have
their
items
of
weather-lore;
many
of
which,
whilst
varying
in
some
respect,
are
evidently
modifications
of
one
and
the
same
belief.
In
many
cases,
too,
it
must
be
admitted
that
this
species
of
weather-wisdom
is
not
based
altogether
on
idle
fancy,
but
in
accordance
with
recognised
habits
of
plants
under
certain
conditions
of
weather.
Indeed,
it
has
been
pointed
out
that
so
sensitive
are
various
flowers
to
any
change
in
the
temperature
or
the
amount
of
light,
that
it
has
been
noticed
that
there
is
as
much
as
one
hour's
difference
between
the
time
when
the
same
flower
opens
at
Paris
and
Upsala.
It
is,
too,
a
familiar
fact
to
students
of
vegetable
physiology
that
the
leaves
of
Porleria
hygrometrica
fold
down
or
rise
up
in
accordance
with
the
state
of
the
atmosphere.
In
short,
it
was
pointed
out
in
the
Standard,
in
illustration
of
the
extreme
sensitiveness
of
certain
plants
to
surrounding
influences,
how
the
Haedysarums
have
been
well
known
ever
since
the
days
of
Linnseus
to
suddenly
begin
to
quiver
without
any
apparent
cause,
and
just
as
suddenly
to
stop.
Force
cannot
initiate
the
movement,
though
cold
will
stop
it,
and
heat
will
set
in
motion
again
the
suspended
animation
of
the
leaves.
If
artificially
kept
from
moving
they
will,
when
released,
instantly
begin
their
task
anew
and
with
redoubled
energy.
Similarly
the
leaves
of
the
Colocasia
esculenta--the
tara
of
the
Sandwich
Islands--will
often
shiver
at
irregular
times
of
the
day
and
night,
and
with
such
energy
that
little
bells
hung
on
the
petals
tinkle.
And
yet,
curious
to
say,
we
are
told
that
the
keenest
eye
has
not
yet
been
able
to
detect
any
peculiarity
in
these
plants
to
account
for
these
strange
motions.
It
has
been
suggested
that
they
are
due
to
changes
in
the
weather
of
such
a
slight
character
that,
"our
nerves
are
incapable
of
appreciating
them,
or
the
mercury
of
recording
their
accompanying
oscillations."
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