OXLIP. 89 



OXLIP. Primula elatior. 



I know a bank whereon the Wild Thyme blows, 

 Where Oxlip, and the nodding Violet grows. 



SlIAKSPEARE. 



The Oxlip is so named from being a larger kind 

 of Cowslip, and it appears to be the offspring of 

 the Primrose impregnated by the Cowslip. Like 

 the mother plant, it seeks the thicket and the 

 hedge-rows, being seldom found in the open fields. 

 It also assimilates with the Primrose in scent, but 

 its umbellate flower-stalk proclaims it also a child 

 of the Cowslip. It is from this plant we seem to 

 have obtained, through cultivation, that beautiful 

 kindred flower the Polyanthos. The Oxlip is by- 

 no means so common as the Primrose or the Cows- 

 lip ; it loves a clayey soil, and deserves a more 

 frequent situation beneath the rose bushes of the 

 garden than it generally occupies. Clumps of 

 Oxlips are great ornaments to the shrubbery, and 

 particularly so — 



Till riper months the perfect year disclose, 

 And Flora cries exulting " See my Rose !" 



Mrs. Barbauld. 



