"It is not a flower though, but an animal.

It is said to have been called by the name of that flower about a hundred years ago, by a celebrated investigator in the department of natural history, named Ellis.

He thought it a suitable name because their tentacles are in regular circles and tinged with bright, lively colors, nearly representing some of our elegantly fringed flowers, such as the carnation, marigold, and anemone.

And so they do while in the water, and undisturbed.

But when a receding tide leaves them on the shore they contract into a jelly-like mass with a puckered hole in the top.
There"-- pointing it out--"is the most common of the British species of sea anemone.