262 PRIMULACE.^. 



or drooping, but stiffly ; about two and a half times 

 as long as broad, 3 to 6 inches long, with stalk of % to 

 54 inch. Flowers subsessile, in dense terminal bunches 

 4 to 8 inches across. Bud of the whole inflorescence 

 egg-shaped, with at the base three or four rows of empty, 

 closely imbricate, J^ to % inch, broadly-ovate and 

 apiculate bracts, with scarious and ciliate margin and 

 tomentose backs : inner flowering bracts similar. 

 Corolla lJ4 inches long and wide, red. Capsule oblong, 

 H^y Vs inch, woody, t. 179. Wight Sp. Nilg. t. 131. 



Very common on both plateaus. Nilgiris : everywhere, quite 

 common in and near Ootacamund. Pulneys : conspicuous on 

 exposed hill-tops where, apparently, its thick bark enables 

 it to stand the yearly grass fires without hurt. Fpon 340. 

 Bou7'ne 48. 



Gen, Dist, Mountains of South India, Himalayas, Burma. 



PRIMULACE/E. 



Perennial herbs with alternate or opposite, often 

 radical, leaves ; and perfectly regular flowers with five- 

 lobed calyx, five-lobed monopetalous corolla, five sta- 

 mens attached to the corolla tube opposite its lobes, 

 superior ovary of one cell with free central placenta 

 covered with kidney-shaped ovules, and capsular fruit 

 opening by a transverse slit or in valves. 



Species 100, chiefly in temperate and Alpine regions. 



In Europe are Primula (Primrose, Cowslip, Fr. Primevere, Ger. Schliis- 

 seldume) ; Hottonia (Water-violet) ; Cyclamen ; Centunculus ; Glaux ; 

 Samolus (Brookweed) ; L)simachia ; Anagallis 



Capsule opening by valves ....... lysimachia. 



Capsule opening by transverse slit anagallis. 



LYSIMACHIA. f.b.i. 87 v. 



Stem herbaceous, erect or creeping. Leaves alternate 



or opposite, simple. Flowers in racemes, or solitary at 



the leaf-axils. Corolla twisted in bud (distinction fron^ 



