'Although its bright, starry flowers are usually scarlet, they are also sometimes coloured pink, white, lilac or blue.They only open for a short time each day - from around 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. - and are always shut during dull or wet weather..Scarlet Pimpernel was once valued for its supposed medicinal qualities, and was thought to cure madness and dispel melancholy - hence its Somerset name of 'laughter bringer'.³