PRIMULACE^. 15L 



Scarlet Pimpernel and Blue Pimpernel. 



French, Mouron des champs. German, Aclicr Gauchheil. 



This pretty little plant is commonly known as the " Poor Man's Weather-glass," 

 from its extreme sensitiveness to a change of atmosphere, which causes it to shut up 

 its petals at the approach of rain. In fine weather it remains open from about eight 

 in the moi-ning till four in the afternoon. It is a common weed in the Valley of the 

 Nile ; and it has a reputation as a medicine in cases of hydrophobia and mania. 

 Its virtues seem, however, to be very doubtful and very imperfectly understood. 

 The leaves are sufficiently inert to be eaten as a salad in France and Germany, but 

 an extract of them is an active irritant, and has been known to cause the death of 

 dogs, to whom it was given experimentally by Orfila and Grenier. The notion that 

 the Pimpernel foretells the approach of rain is widely spread through the country ; 

 and our native poets perpetuate the belief by such lines as the following : — 



" Clos'd is the pink-eyed Pimpernel. 

 'Twill surely rain. I see with sorrow 

 Our jaunt must be put ofi" to-morrow." 



And again — 



" The Pimpernel, whose brilliant flow'r 

 Closes against the approaching show'r. 

 Warning the swain to sheltering bow'r 

 From humid air secure." 



Var. S, ccerulea. ■ 



Plate MCXLVH. 



Eeicli. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XVII. Tab. MLXXXIII. Fig. 2. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 440. 



A. ccerulea, Sm. Engl. Bot. ed. i. No. 1823. Koch, Syn. Fl. Gei-m. et Helv. ed. ii. 

 p. 669. 



Flowers bright blue. Corolla segments usually not ciliated with 

 gland-tii:)ped hairs. Plant generally more robust and more upright 

 than var. a. 



In cultivated fields, in light and chalky soils, and waste places, and 

 by roadsides. Very common, and generally distributed, except in the 

 extreme north of Scotland. Frequent in Ireland. Var. 3 rather rare 

 in England ; very scai'ce in the north, though it is reported to occur 

 as far north as Perth and the neighbourhood of Glasgow, but I have 

 never met with it in Scotland; very rare in Ireland. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Amiual. Summer, Autumn. 



Stems diffusely branclied, quadrangular, succulent, brittle, 3 inches 

 to 3 feet long, in the shorter state more upright than in the longer. 

 Leaves h to 1^- inch long, variable in breadth, the lowest ones indis- 

 tinctly stalked. Peduncles ^ to 2 inches long. Flowers f to ^ inch 

 across, expanding only in fine weather. Filaments hairy. Capsule 



