u8 



BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS 



in small clusters, are placed on short stalks, and are 

 all pendent. The calyx is ovate, with 5 short teeth, 

 and like the tube of the corolla, is slightly inflated. 

 The corolla is quinquelobate, fragrant, and is 

 lemon-yellow, spotted with red at the base. The 

 stamens are placed at the bottom of the tube, to 

 which they adhere. The ovary is round, with a 

 cylindrical style and globular stigma. Cowslip- 

 wine, and sometimes cowslip tea, is made of the 

 flowers. 



The Primrose {Primula acaulis) is closely allied 

 to the Cowslip, but has larger and paler flowers, 

 each growing singly on a stalk ; and in mild winters 

 it flowers almost all the year round. It is fonder 

 of shade than the Cowslip, and is more frequently 

 found on hedge-banks or in woods than in the open 

 fields. 



Sow-bread — Cyclamen europmun 



(Plate LXXVII) 



This curious plant, though naturalised in Eng- 

 land, is more often to be seen on artificial rockeries 



than wild. It is common in mountainous countries 

 in different parts of Europe, and also grows in 

 shady woods. The root is perennial, and consists 

 of a fleshy bulb, brownish yellow outside but white 

 within, from which rise several broad heart-shaped 

 leaves with sinuated borders, on long stalks. The 

 upperside of the leaves is dark green varied with 

 whitish, and the under-surface is purplish. The 

 flowers appear before the leaves, and rise on long 

 stalks directly from the root. Every stalk bears only 

 one flower, which is purple, red or white, and more 

 or less fragrant. When they first expand, the petals 

 are closely connected, but as they expand they 

 turn back, and the tube becomes conspicuous. 

 The pistil is longer than the stamens. When the 

 flowers are over, and the ovary begins to expand, 

 the flower-stalk twists spirally back to the ground, 

 and then the fruit ripens. The fruit is a capsule, 

 filled with white pith, which contains the seeds. 

 Pigs are very fond of the tubers, whence the popular 

 English name of the plant. 



A smaller and commoner plant of this Order, 

 very unlike those already described, is the Scarlet 



