Part 16

and the sweet Heliotrope and the gay and elegant Nasturtium, and a great many other "bonnie gems" upon the breast of our dear mother earth,--but this gossipping book has already extended to so unconscionable a size that I must quicken my progress towards a conclusion[096].

I am indebted to the kindness of Babu Kasiprasad Ghosh, the first Hindu gentlemen who ever published a volume of poems in the English language[097] for the following interesting list of Indian flowers used in Hindu ceremonies. Many copies of the poems of Kasiprasad Ghosh, were sent to the English public critics, several of whom spoke of the author's talents with commendation. The late Miss Emma Roberts wrote a brief biography of him for one of the London annuals, so that there must be many of my readers at home who will not on this occasion hear of his name for the first time.

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF INDIAN FLOWERS, COMMONLY USED IN HINDU CEREMONIES.[098]

A'KUNDA (_Calotropis Gigantea_).--A pretty purple coloured, and slightly scented flower, having a sweet and agreeable smell. It is called _Arca_ in Sanscrit, and has two varieties, both of which are held to be sacred to Shiva. It forms one of the five darts with which the Indian God of Love is supposed to pierce the hearts of young mortals.[099] Sir William Jones refers to it in his Hymn to Kama Deva. It possesses medicinal properties.[100]

A'PARA'JITA (_Clitoria ternatea_).--A conically shaped flower, the upper part of which is tinged with blue and the lower part is white. Some are wholly white. It is held to be sacred to Durga.

ASOCA. (_Jonesia Asoca_).--A small yellow flower, which blooms in large clusters in the month of April and gives a most beautiful appearance to the tree. It is eaten by young females as a medicine. It smells like the Saffron.

A'TASHI.--A small yellowish or brown coloured flower without any smell. It is supposed to be sacred to Shiva, and is very often alluded to by the Indian poets. It resembles the flower of the flax or Linum usitatissimum.[101]

BAKA.--A kidney shaped flower, having several varieties, all of which are held to be sacred to Vishnu, and are in consequence used in his worship. It is supposed to possess medicinal virtues and is used by the native doctors.

BAKU'LA (_Mimusops Etengi_).--A very small, yellowish, and fragrant flower. It is used in making garlands and other female ornaments. Krishna is said to have fascinated the milkmaids of Brindabun by playing on his celebrated flute under a _Baku'la_ tree on the banks of the Jumna, which is, therefore, invariably alluded to in all the Sanscrit and vernacular poems relating to his amours with those young women.

BA'KASHA (_Justicia Adhatoda_).--A white flower, having a slight smell. It is used in certain native medicines.

BELA (_Jasminum Zambac_).--A fragrant small white flower, in common use among native females, who make garlands of it to wear in their braids of hair. A kind of _uttar_ is extracted from this flower, which is much esteemed by natives. It is supposed to form one of the darts of Kama Deva or the God of Love. European Botanists seem to have confounded this flower with the Monika, which they also call the Jasminum Zambac.

BHU'MI CHAMPAKA.--An oblong variegated flower, which shoots out from the ground at the approach of spring. It has a slight smell, and is considered to possess medicinal properties. The great peculiarity of this flower is that it blooms when there is not apparently the slightest trace of the existence of the shrub above ground. When the flower dies away, the leaves make their appearance.

CHAMPA' (_Michelia Champaka_).--A tulip shaped yellow flower possessing a very strong smell.[102] It forms one of the darts of Kama Deva, the Indian Cupid. It is particularly sacred to Krishna.

CHUNDRA MALLIKA' (_Chrysanthemum Indiana_).--A pretty round yellow flower which blooms in winter. The plant is used in making hedges in gardens and presents a beautiful appearance in the cold weather when the blossoms appear.

DHASTU'RA (_Datura Fastuosa_).--A large tulip shaped white flower, sacred to Mahadeva, the third Godhead of the Hindu Trinity. The seeds of this flower have narcotic properties.[103]

DRONA.--A white flower with a very slight smell.

DOPATI (_Impatiens Balsamina_).--A small flower having a slight smell. There are several varieties of this flower. Some are red and some white, while others are both white and red.

GA'NDA' (_Tagetes erecta_).--A handsome yellow flower, which sometimes grows very large. It is commonly used in making garlands, with which the natives decorate their idols, and the Europeans in India their churches and gates on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

GANDHA RA'J (_Gardenia Florida_).--A strongly scented white flower, which blooms at night.

GOLANCHA (_Menispermum Glabrum_).--A white flower. The plant is already well known to Europeans as a febrifuge.

JAVA' (_Hibiscus Rosa Sinensis_).--A large blood coloured flower held to be especially sacred to Kali. There are two species of it, viz. the ordinary Java commonly seen in our gardens and parterres, and the _Pancha Mukhi_, which, as its name imports, has five compartments and is the largest of the two.[104]

JAYANTI (_Aeschynomene Sesban_).--A small yellowish flower, held to be sacred to Shiva.

JHA'NTI.--A small white flower possessing medicinal properties. The leaves of the plants are used in curing certain ulcers.

JA'NTI (_Jasminum Grandiflorum_).--Also a small white flower having a sweet smell. The _uttar_ called _Chumeli_ is extracted from it.

JUYIN (_Jasminum Auriculatum_).--The Indian Jasmine. It is a very small white flower remarkable for its sweetness. It is also used in making a species of _uttar_ which is highly prized by the natives, as also in forming a great variety of imitation female ornaments.

KADAMBA (_Nauclea Cadamba_).--A ball shaped yellow flower held to be particularly sacred to Krishna, many of whose gambols with the milkmaids of Brindabun are said to have been performed under the Kadamba tree, which is in consequence very frequently alluded to in the vernacular poems relating to his loves with those celebrated beauties.

KINSUKA (_Butea Frondosa_).--A handsome but scentless white flower.

KANAKA CHAMPA (_Pterospermum Acerifolium_).--A yellowish flower which hangs down in form of a tassel. It has a strong smell, which is perceived at a great distance when it is on the tree, but the moment it is plucked off, it begins to lose its fragrance.

KANCHANA (_Bauhinia Variegata_).--There are several varieties of this flower. Some are white, some are purple, while others are red. It gives a handsome appearance to the tree when the latter is in full blossom.

KUNDA (_Jasminum pulescens_).--A very pretty white flower. Indian poets frequently compare a set of handsome teeth, to this flower. It is held to be especially sacred to Vishnu.

KARABIRA (_Nerium Odosum_).--There are two species of this flower, viz. the white and red, both of which are sacred to Shiva.

KAMINI (_Murraya Exotica_).--A pretty small white flower having a strong smell. It blooms at night and is very delicate to the touch. The _kamini_ tree is frequently used as a garden hedge.

KRISHNA CHURA (_Poinciana Pulcherrima_).--A pretty small flower, which, as its name imports resembles the head ornament of Krishna. When the Krishna Chura tree is in full blossom, it has a very handsome appearance.

KRISHNA KELI (_Mirabilis Jalapa_.)[105]--A small tulip shaped yellow flower. The bulb of the plant has medicinal properties and is used by the natives as a poultice.

KUMADA (_Nymphaea Esculenta_)--A white flower, resembling the lotus, but blooming at night, whence the Indian poets suppose that it is in love with Chandra or the Moon, as the lotus is imagined by them to be in love with the Sun.

LAVANGA LATA' (_Limonia Scandens_.)--A very small red flower growing upon a creeper, which has been celebrated by Jaya Deva in his famous work called the _Gita Govinda_. This creeper is used in native gardens for bowers.

MALLIKA' (_Jasminum Zambac_.)--A white flower resembling the _Bela_. It has a very sweet smell and is used by native females to make ornaments. It is frequently alluded to by Indian poets.

MUCHAKUNDA (_Pterospermum Suberifolia_).--A strongly scented flower, which grows in clusters and is of a brown colour.

MA'LATI (_Echites Caryophyllata_.)--The flower of a creeper which is commonly used in native gardens. It has a slight smell and is of a white colour.

MA'DHAVI (_Gaertnera Racemosa_.)--The flower of another creeper which is also to be seen in native gardens. It is likewise of a white colour.

NA'GESWARA (_Mesua Ferrua_.)--A white flower with yellow filaments, which are said to possess medicinal properties and are used by the native physicians. It has a very sweet smell and is supposed by Indian poets to form one of the darts of Kama Deva. See Sir William Jones's Hymn to that deity.

PADMA (_Nelumbium Speciosum_.)--The Indian lotus, which is held to be sacred to Vishnu, Brama, Mahadava, Durga, Lakshami and Saraswati as well as all the higher orders of Indian deities. It is a very elegant flower and is highly esteemed by the natives, in consequence of which the Indian poets frequently allude to it in their writings.

PA'RIJATA (_Buchanania Latifolia_.)--A handsome white flower, with a slight smell. In native poetry, it furnishes a simile for pretty eyes, and is held to be sacred to Vishnu.

PAREGATA (_Erythrina Fulgens_.)--A flower which is supposed to bloom in the garden of Indra in heaven, and forms the subject of an interesting episode in the _Puranas_, in which the two wives of Krisna, (Rukmini and Satyabhama) are said to have quarrelled for the exclusive possession of this flower, which their husband had stolen from the celestial garden referred to. It is supposed to be identical with the flower of the _Palta madar_.

RAJANI GANDHA (_Polianthus Tuberosa_.)--A white tulip-shaped flower which blooms at night, from which circumstance it is called "the Rajani Gandha, (or night-fragrance giver)." It is the Indian tuberose.

RANGANA.--A small and very pretty red flower which is used by native females in ornamenting their betels.

SEONTI. _Rosa Glandulefera_. A white flower resembling the rose in size and appearance. It has a sweet smell.

SEPHA'LIKA (_Nyctanthes Arbor-tristis_.)--A very pretty and delicate flower which blooms at night, and drops down shortly after. It has a sweet smell and is held to be sacred to Shiva. The juice of the leaves of the Sephalika tree are used in curing both remittant and intermittent fevers.

SURYJA MUKHI (_Helianthus Annuus_).--A large and very handsome yellow flower, which is said to turn itself to the Sun, as he goes from East to West, whence it has derived its name.

SURYJA MANI (_Hibiscus Phoeniceus_).--A small red flower.

GOLAKA CHAMPA.--A large beautiful white tulip-shaped flower having a sweet smell. It is externally white but internally orange-colored.

TAGUR (_Tabernoemontana Coronaria_).--A white flower having a slight smell.

TARU LATA.--A beautiful creeper with small red flowers. It is used in native gardens for making hedges.

K.G.

* * * * *

Pliny in his Natural History alludes to the marks of time exhibited in the regular opening and closing of flowers. Linnaeus enumerates forty-six flowers that might be used for the construction of a floral time-piece. This great Swedish botanist invented a Floral horologe, "whose wheels were the sun and earth and whose index-figures were flowers." Perhaps his invention, however, was not wholly original. Andrew Marvell in his "_Thoughts in a Garden_" mentions a sort of floral dial:--

How well the skilful gardener drew Of flowers and herbs this dial new! Where, from above, the milder sun Does through a fragrant zodiac run: And, as it works, th'industrious bee Computes its time as well as we: How could such sweet and wholesome hours Be reckoned, but with herbs and flowers?

_Marvell_[106]

Milton's notation of time--"_at shut of evening flowers_," has a beautiful simplicity, and though Shakespeare does not seem to have marked his time on a floral clock, yet, like all true poets, he has made very free use of other appearances of nature to indicate the commencement and the close of day.

The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch-- Than we will ship him hence.

_Hamlet_.

Fare thee well at once! The glow-worm shows the matin to be near And gins to pale his uneffectual fire.

_Hamlet_.

But look! The morn, in russet mantle clad, Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill:-- Break we our watch up.

_Hamlet_.

_Light thickens_, and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood.

_Macbeth_.

Such picturesque notations of time as these, are in the works of Shakespeare, as thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks in Valombrosa. In one of his Sonnets he thus counts the years of human life by the succession of the seasons.

To me, fair friend, you never can be old, For as you were when first your eye I eyed, Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold Have from the forests shook three summers' pride; Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turned In process of the seasons have I seen; Three April's perfumes in three hot Junes burned Since first I saw you fresh which yet are green.

Grainger, a prosaic verse-writer who once commenced a paragraph of a poem with "Now, Muse, let's sing of rats!" called upon the slave drivers in the West Indies to time their imposition of cruel tasks by the opening and closing of flowers.

Till morning dawn and Lucifer withdraw His beamy chariot, let not the loud bell Call forth thy negroes from their rushy couch: And ere the sun with mid-day fervor glow, When every broom-bush opes her yellow flower, Let thy black laborers from their toil desist: Nor till the broom her every petal lock, Let the loud bell recal them to the hoe, But when the jalap her bright tint displays, When the solanum fills her cup with dew, And crickets, snakes and lizards gin their coil, Let them find shelter in their cane-thatched huts.

_Sugar Cane_.[107]

I shall here give (_from Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Gardening_) the form of a flower dial. It may be interesting to many of my readers:--

'Twas a lovely thought to mark the hours As they floated in light away By the opening and the folding flowers That laugh to the summer day.[108]

_Mr. Hemans_.

A FLOWER DIAL.

TIME OF OPENING. [109] h. m. YELLOW GOAT'S BEARD T.P. 3 5 LATE FLOWERING DANDELION Leon.S. 4 0 BRISTLY HELMINTHIA H.B. 4 5 ALPINE BORKHAUSIA B.A. 4 5 WILD SUCCORY C.I. 4 5 NAKED STALKED POPPY P.N. 5 0 COPPER COLOURED DAY LILY H.F. 5 0 SMOOTH SOW THISTLE S.L. 5 0 ALPINE AGATHYRSUS Ag.A. 5 0 SMALL BIND WEED Con.A. 5 6 COMMON NIPPLE WORT L.C. 5 6 COMMON DANDELION L.T. 5 6 SPORTED ACHYROPHORUS A.M. 6 7 WHITE WATER LILY N.A. 7 0 GARDEN LETTUCE Lec.S. 7 0 AFRICAN MARIGOLD T.E. 7 0 COMMON PIMPERNEL A.A. 7 8 MOUSE-EAR HAWKWEED H.P. 8 0 PROLIFEROUS PINK D.P. 8 0 FIELD MARIGOLD Cal.A. 9 0 PURPLE SANDWORT A.P. 9 10 SMALL PURSLANE P.O. 9 10 CREEPING MALLOW M.C. 9 10 CHICKWEED S.M. 9 10

TIME OF CLOSING. h. m. HELMINTHIA ECHIOIDES B.H. 12 0 AGATHYRSUS ALPINUS A.B. 12 0 BORKHAUSIA ALPINA A.B. 12 0 LEONTODON SEROTINUS L.D. 12 0 MALVA CAROLINIANA C.M. 12 1 DAINTHUS PROLIFER P.P. 1 0 HIERACIUM PILOSELLA M.H. 0 2 ANAGALLIS ARVENSIS S.P. 2 3 ARENARIA PURPUREA P.S. 2 4 CALENDULA ARVENSIS F.M. 3 0 TACETES ERECTA A.M. 3 3 CONVOLVULUS ARVENSIS S.B. 4 0 ACHYROPHORUS MACULATUS S.A. 4 5 NYMPHAEA ALBA W.W.B. 5 0 PAPAVER NUDICAULE N.P. 7 0 HEMEROCALLIS FULVA C.D.L. 7 0 CICHORIUM INTYBUS W.S. 8 9 TRAGOPOGON PRATENSIS Y.G.B. 9 10 STELLARIA MEDIA C. 9 10 LAPSANA COMMUNIS C.N. 10 0 LACTUCA SATIVA G.L. 10 0 SONCHUS LAEVIS S.T. 11 10 PORTULACA OLERACEA S.P. 11 12

Of course it will be necessary to adjust the _Horologium Florae_ (or Flower clock) to the nature of the climate. Flowers expand at a later hour in a cold climate than in a warm one. "A flower," says Loudon, "that opens at six o'clock in the morning at Senegal, will not open in France or England till eight or nine, nor in Sweden till ten. A flower that opens at ten o'clock at Senegal will not open in France or England till noon or later, and in Sweden it will not open at all. And a flower that does not open till noon or later at Senegal will not open at all in France or England. This seems as if heat or its absence were also (as well as light) an agent in the opening and shutting of flowers; though the opening of such as blow only in the night cannot be attributed to either light or heat."

The seasons may be marked in a similar manner by their floral representatives. Mary Howitt quotes as a motto to her poem on _Holy Flowers_ the following example of religious devotion timed by flowers:--

"Mindful of the pious festivals which our church prescribes," (says a Franciscan Friar) "I have sought to make these charming objects of floral nature, the _time-pieces of my religious calendar_, and the mementos of the hastening period of my mortality. Thus I can light the taper to our Virgin Mother on the blowing of the white snow-drop which opens its floweret at the time of Candlemas; the lady's smock and the daffodil, remind me of the Annunciation; the blue harebell, of the Festival of St George; the ranunculus, of the Invention of the Cross; the scarlet lychnis, of St. John the Baptist's day; the white lily, of the Visitation of our Lady, and the Virgin's bower, of her Assumption; and Michaelmas, Martinmas, Holyrood, and Christmas, have all their appropriate monitors. I learn the time of day from the shutting of the blossoms of the Star of Jerusalem and the Dandelion, and the hour of the night by the stars."

Some flowers afford a certain means of determining the state of the atmosphere. If I understand Mr. Tyas rightly he attributes the following remarks to Hartley Coleridge.--

"Many species of flowers are admirable barometers. Most of the bulbous-rooted flowers contract, or close their petals entirely on the approach of rain. The African marigold indicates rain, if the corolla is closed after seven or eight in the morning. The common bind-weed closes its flowers on the approach of rain; but the anagallis arvensis, or scarlet pimpernel, is the most sure in its indications as the petals constantly close on the least humidity of the atmosphere. Barley is also singularly affected by the moisture or dryness of the air. The awns are furnished with stiff points, all turning towards one end, which extend when moist, and shorten when dry. The points, too, prevent their receding, so that they are drawn up or forward; as moisture is returned, they advance and so on; indeed they may be actually seen to travel forwards. The capsules of the geranium furnish admirable barometers. Fasten the beard, when fully ripe, upon a stand, and it will twist itself, or untwist, according as the air is moist or dry. The flowers of the chick-weed, convolvulus, and oxalis, or wood sorrel, close their petals on the approach of rain."

The famous German writer, Jean Paul Richter, describes what he calls _a Human Clock_.

A HUMAN CLOCK.

"I believe" says Richter "the flower clock of Linnaeus, in Upsal (_Horologium Florae_) whose wheels are the sun and earth, and whose index-figures are flowers, of which one always awakens and opens later than another, was what secretly suggested my conception of the human clock.

I formerly occupied two chambers in Scheeraw, in the middle of the market place: from the front room I overlooked the whole market-place and the royal buildings and from the back one, the botanical garden. Whoever now dwells in these two rooms possesses an excellent harmony, arranged to his hand, between the flower clock in the garden and the human clock in the marketplace. At three o'clock in the morning, the yellow meadow goats-beard opens; and brides awake, and the stable-boy begins to rattle and feed the horses beneath the lodger. At four o'clock the little hawk weed awakes, choristers going to the Cathedral who are clocks with chimes, and the bakers. At five, kitchen maids, dairy maids, and butter-cups awake. At six, the sow-thistle and cooks. At seven o'clock many of the Ladies' maids are awake in the Palace, the Chicory in my botanical garden, and some tradesmen. At eight o'clock all the colleges awake and the little mouse-ear. At nine o'clock, the female nobility already begin to stir; the marigold, and even many young ladies, who have come from the country on a visit, begin to look out of their windows. Between ten and eleven o'clock the Court Ladies and the whole staff of Lords of the Bed-chamber, the green colewort and the Alpine dandelion, and the reader of the Princess rouse themselves out of their morning sleep; and the whole Palace, considering that the morning sun gleams so brightly to-day from the lofty sky through the coloured silk curtains, curtails a little of its slumber.

At twelve o'clock, the Prince: at one, his wife and the carnation have their eyes open in their flower vase. What awakes late in the afternoon at four o'clock is only the red-hawkweed, and the night watchman as cuckoo-clock, and these two only tell the time as evening-clocks and moon-clocks.

From the eyes of the unfortunate man, who like the jalap plant (Mirabilia jalapa), first opens them at five o'clock, we will turn our own in pity aside. It is a rich man who only exchanges the fever fancies of being pinched with hot pincers for waking pains.

I could never know when it was two o'clock, because at that time, together with a thousand other stout gentlemen and the yellow mouse-ear, I always fell asleep; but at three o'clock in the afternoon, and at three in the morning, I awoke as regularly as though I was a repeater. Thus we mortals may be a flower-clock for higher beings, when our flower-leaves close upon our last bed; or sand clocks, when the sand of our life is so run down that it is renewed in the other world; or picture-clocks because, when our death-bell here below strikes and rings, our image steps forth, from its case into the next world.

On each event of the kind, when seventy years of human life have passed away, they may perhaps say, what! another hour already gone! how the time flies!"--_From Balfour's Phyto-Theology_.