LIFE HISTORIES OF FAMILIAR PLANTS 



short green stalk, for the right and left halves of 

 the blade of the leaf are rolled tightly back and 

 only the midrib, or central vein, is visible. Slowly 

 these little stem-like leaves elongate and thicken, 

 but not until the sunlight makes its warmth felt, 

 do the green parts of the leaves unroll and spread 

 themselves out ; then, almost in a few hours, the 

 plant presents quite a bold array of leaves, 

 followed almost immediately by a show of 

 flowers. The primrose is a perennial, and 

 prepares for this sudden display of spring by 

 accumulating, during the previous summer and 

 autumn, a large store of rich starches and energy- 

 yielding materials in its underground rootstock. 

 Hence, at the earliest favourable moment it is 

 ready to begin business, and so it gets an early 

 start over many of its competitors for space and 

 sunlight. 



Its near relative the cowshp (Fig. 56, Plate 37), 

 which grows on the lower ground amongst the 

 pastures, is usually later in getting its blooms for- 

 ward, simply because it has to develop a long and 

 thick stalk to carry its umbel of flowers. In that 

 respect the primrose has made a distinct advance ; 

 it no longer produces a stalk to hold up its flowers. 

 Its stalk is so abbreviated and stunted that the 

 flowers appear to spring directly from the root, 

 although they really arise from the summit of the 

 undeveloped stem. Indeed, I am inclined to 

 think that the primrose is the most advanced mem- 

 ber of its genus. It would be rash to dogmatise 

 in the matter and declare positively whether the 



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