PBIMULACEAE 67 



PRIMULACEAE. Primrose Family 



Herbs with simple undivided leaves. Flowers perfect, regular and symmetri- 

 cal, 4 to 8-merous, commonly 5-merous, axillary and solitary, or in terminal racemes 

 or umbels. Calyx toothed, lobed or parted. Corolla sympetalous, lobed or parted. 

 Stamens opposite the lobes of the corolla and inserted on its tube at base. Ovary 

 1-celled, with a single style and stigma, superior, except in Samolus, where it is 

 attached to the base of the calyx; ovules on a free central placenta. Fruit a cap- 

 sule. — Glaux has no corolla, Samolus has 5 staminodia alternate with the sta- 

 mens. — Genera 22, species about 500, all continents, but poorly represented in the 

 tropics and in Australia. 



Bibliog. — Gray, A., Essay towards a revision of Dodecatheon (Bot. Gaz. 11:231-234, — 1886). 

 Greene, E. L., Some species of Dodeeatheon (Pitt. 1:209-214, — 1888; Erythea 3:37-40, — 1895). 

 Brandegee, K., Dodeeatheon meadia (Zoe 1:17-20, — -1890) ; in this strange little paper all the 

 species of the genus Dodeeatheon are reduced to one. Pax, F., and Knuth, E., Primulaceae 

 (Engler, Pflzr. 4=": 1-386, figs. 1-75, maps 1-2,-1905). Hall, H. M., Dodeeatheon in the Sierra 

 Nevada (Univ. Cal. Publ. Bot. 4:201-207,-1912). St. John, H., Revision of certain N. Am. 

 species of Androsaee (Victoria Memorial Mus. 126:45-55, — -1922). WiUiams, L. O., Eevision of 

 the Western Primulas (Am. Midland Nat. 17:741-748, fig. 1, — 1936). Eastwood, A., New species 

 of Dodeeatheon (Lflts. W. Bot. 2:36-38,-1937). 

 Ovary superior (whoUy free) ; flowers not in racemes (except no. 5). 

 Stems scape-like, the leaves all basal ; flowers in umbels. 



Corolla-lobes reflexed; stamen-filaments monadelphous 1. Dodecathbx)N. 



Corolla-lobes erect or spreading; stamen-filaments distinct (as in all the following). 



Flowers large; corolla open at the throat, its lobes emarginate 2. Primula. 



Flowers very small ; corolla constricted at the throat, its lobes entire..3. Andeosace. 

 Stems leafy. 



Stems with the leaves in a single whorl at summit 4. Teientalis. 



Stems leafy throughout. 

 Leaves opposite. 



Flowers in dense oblong racemes; corolla pale yellow 5. Lysimachia. 



Flowers axillary and solitary. 



Corolla none 6. Glaxts. 



Corolla present, red 7. Anaoallis. 



Leaves alternate; corolla pinkish, minute 8. Centuncultjs. 



Ovary adnate by its lower half to the calyx ; flowers in racemes 9. Samolus. 



1. DODECATHEON L. Shooting Stab 



Low perennial herbs with basal leaves and a naked scape bearing an umbel of 

 few or many flowers. Corolla 5-parted, with very short tube and dilated thickened 

 throat, the long and narrow divisions reflexed in flower (as also the calyx-lobes). 

 Stamens on the throat of the corolla; filaments short and flat, monadelphous, but 

 at length separable above. Style filiform, exserted. Fruit a capsule with colum- 

 nar placenta, surrounded at base by the now erect calyx. — Species about 20, North 

 America. (Greek dodeka, 12, and theos, god, the Primrose being under the care 

 of the deities. Singular flowers similar to those of the cultivated Cyclamen. ) 

 Filament-tube obsolete, or very short. 



Capsule elliptic to broadly oblong, valvate from the very apex; leaves mostly acute or sub- 

 acute; high montane or alpine species. 



Herbage wholly glabrous ; leaves 1 to 4 inches long ; style not glandular 1. D. alpinum. 



Stems and pedicels minutely glandular ; leaves mostly 3 to 6 inches long ; style usually 



glandular towards the base 2. D. jcffreyi. 



Capsule narrow or cylindric, circumscissUe near the apex ; leaves mostly obtuse ; Modoc Co 



3. D. conjugens. 

 Filament-tube % to nearly as long as the anthers. 



High montane ; filament-tube very narrow, nearly as long as the anthers 4. D. cusickii. 



Foothills and valleys, cismontane ; filament-tube much shorter than the anthers, usually 

 broader than long. 

 Boot-crown without rice-grain bulblets; pedicels minutely glandular -hirsutulose, often 

 obscurely or weakly so, the scapes glabrous or weakly or obscurely glandular- 

 hixsutulose ; leaves glabrous. 



