164 PINK TO RED 



to a dry one, the Red Wintergreen grows in close companion- 

 ship with the lovely One-flowered Wintergreen, the Long- 

 bracted Orchis, and the Butterwort ; and if you know the 



" Secret paths that thread the forest land," 



you may find them in profusion, mingled at your feet by happy 

 chances, — a gay holiday throng. 



BIRD'S-EYE PRIMROSE 



Priffiula farinosa. Primrose Family 



Leaves: oblong, obtuse at the apex, narrowed at the base, tapering 

 into petioles, the margins crenulate. Flowers: umbellate; bracts of the 

 involucre acute ; calyx-lobes acute, often mealy; corolla salver-form, five- 

 cleft ; stamens five included filaments ; anthers very short, oblong, obtuse. 



A tall species of Primrose, with pink, lilac, or very occasionally 

 white flowers, which grow in a cluster at the top of the long 

 stalks and are salver-shaped ; that is to say, the divisions of 

 the corolla spread out flat at the top of the tube and disclose 

 a yellow eye with five stamens forming a dark "pupil " in the 

 centre of it. Hence the name of Bird's-eye. The leaves are 

 long-shaped, being usually mealy white beneath, as denoted in 

 the term farinosa, and all grow in a tuft at the base of the 

 plant, surrounding the long bare flower-stalk, on the top of 

 which a few small bracts will be found just below the blossoms. 



P. Mistassinica, or Dwarf Canadian Primrose, is similar to 

 the preceding species, but much smaller, growing only to an 

 average height of four inches, whereas P. farijiosa is usually 

 about ten inches tall. The tiny leaves are all set in a tuft 

 close to the ground, and are rarely mealy underneath ; while 

 the flowers are pale mauvish-pink in colour. Both these Prim- 

 roses grow in very wet places. The generic name. Primula, 

 refers to their early season of blossoming, for, as the poet says : 



" Primroses, the spring may love them. 

 Summer knows but little of them." 



