The Botanic Garden. Part II. | Page 8

arms she own'd a mother's name,--
"Desist, rash youth!
restrain your impious flame,
"First on that bed your infant-form was
press'd,
130 "Born by my throes, and nurtured at my breast."--
Back as from death he sprung, with wild amaze
Fierce on the fair he
fix'd his ardent gaze;
Dropp'd on one knee, his frantic arms outspread,

And stole a guilty glance toward the bed;
135 Then breath'd from
quivering lips a whisper'd vow,
And bent on heaven his pale repentant brow;
"Thus, thus!" he cried,
and plung'd the furious dart, And life and love gush'd mingled from his
heart.
The fell SILENE and her sisters fair,
140 Skill'd in destruction,
spread the viscous snare.
[Silene. l. 139. Catchfly. Three females and ten males inhabit each
flower; the viscous material, which surrounds the stalks under the
flowers of this plant, and of the Cucubulus Otites, is a curious
contrivance to prevent various insects from plundering the honey, or
devouring the seed. In the Dionaea Muscipula there is a still more
wonderful contrivance to prevent the depredations of insects: The
leaves are armed with long teeth, like the antennæ of insects, and lie
spread upon the ground round the stem; and are so irritable, that when
an insect creeps upon them, they fold up, and crush or pierce it to death.
The last professor Linneus, in his Supplementum Plantarum, gives the
following account of the Arum Muscivorum. The flower has the smell
of carrion; by which the flies are invited to lay their eggs in the
chamber of the flower, but in vain endeavour to escape, being

prevented by the hairs pointing inwards; and thus perish in the flower,
whence its name of fly-eater. P. 411. in the Dypsacus is another
contrivance for this purpose, a bason of water is placed round each joint
of the stem. In the Drosera is another kind of fly-trap. See Dypsacus
and Drosera; the flowers of Siléne and Cucúbalus are closed all day,
but are open and give an agreeable odour in the night. See Cerea. See
additional notes at the end of the poem.]
[Illustration: Dionna Muscipula]
[Illustration: Amaryllis formosissima]
The harlot-band ten lofty bravoes screen,
And frowning guard the
magic nets unseen.--
Haste, glittering nations, tenants of the air,
Oh,
steer from hence your viewless course afar!
145 If with soft words,
sweet blushes, nods, and smiles,
The three dread Syrens lure you to their toils,
Limed by their art in
vain you point your stings,
In vain the efforts of your whirring
wings!--
Go, seek your gilded mates and infant hives,
150 Nor taste
the honey purchas'd with your lives!
When heaven's high vault condensing clouds deform,
Fair
AMARYLLIS flies the incumbent storm,
[Amaryllis, l. 152. Formosissima. Most beautiful Amaryllis. Six males,
one female. Some of the bell-flowers close their apertures at night, or in
rainy or cold weather, as the convolvulus, and thus protect their
included stamens and pistils. Other bell-flowers hang their apertures
downwards, as many of the lilies; in those the pistil, when at maturity,
is longer than the stamens; and by this pendant attitude of the bell,
when the anthers burst, their dust falls on the stigma: and these are at
the same time sheltered as with an umbrella from rain and dews. But,
as a free exposure to the air is necessary for their fecundation, the style
and filaments in many of these flowers continue to grow longer after
the bell is open, and hang down below its rim. In others, as in the
martagon, the bell is deeply divided, and the divisions are reflected

upwards, that they may not prevent the access of air, and at the same
time afford some shelter from perpendicular rain or dew. Other
bell-flowers, as the hemerocallis and amaryllis, have their bells
nodding only, as it were, or hanging obliquely toward the horizon;
which, as their stems are slender, turn like a weathercock from the wind;
and thus very effectually preserve their inclosed stamens and anthers
from the rain and cold. Many of these flowers, both before and after
their season of fecundation, erect their heads perpendicular to the
horizon, like the Meadia, which cannot be explained from meer
mechanism.
The Amaryllis formosissima is a flower of the last mentioned kind, and
affords an agreeable example of art in the vegetable economy, 1. The
pistil is of great length compared with the stamens; and this I suppose
to have been the most unchangeable part of the flower, as in Meadia,
which see. 2. To counteract this circumstance, the pistil and stamens
are made to decline downwards, that the prolific dust might fall from
the anthers on the stigma. 3. To produce this effect, and to secure it
when produced, the corol is lacerated, contrary to what occurs in other
flowers of this genus, and the lowest division with the two next lowest
ones are wrapped closely over the style and filaments,