162 THE STORY OF. PLANT LIFE 
Gerard says: ‘‘ It tooke his name of a special 
vertue that it hath in appeasing the strife and 
unrulinesse which falleth out among oxen at the 
plough, if it be put about among their yokes, but it 
rather retaineth and keepeth the name Lysimachia 
of King Lysimachus the son of Agathodes, the first 
finder out of the nature and vertues of this herbe, as 
Plinie saith.” 
PRIMROSE (Prinwla vulgaris). 
Associated with poetry and recently with the name 
of Lord Beaconsfield the Primrose is endeared to 
everyone, not for these reasons alone, but because it 
is one of the earliest spring flowers, and breathes of 
the woods and dells where it is so commonly found. 
But its popularity, sad to say, is likely to endanger 
its well-being in many a district, where it is now 
scarce, hawkers and others thinking nothing of root- 
ing it up and hawking it for sale in the streets, in the 
same way as bluebells, orchids, and ferns. It is to 
be hoped this practice will soon be prevented by a 
wise endeavour to preserve our native wild flowers. 
It is found in every county except Peebles, and in 
Yorkshire grows at an altitude of 1600 ft. 
Its favourite habitat is a wood, where it grows in 
clumps, studding the ground under trees. It is also 
found in some districts along the hedgerow, in open 
fields and upon banks, especially railway banks. 
The roots are fibrous, numerous and white. The 
