120 PENTANDRIA. 



GENUS Symphytum. Comfrey. The name of the genus 

 comes from the Greek, and signifies union, or junction, be- 

 cause this plant has been a famous remedy for cuts and 

 wounds. Comfrey has a tuberous root, is perennial, and 

 grows two or three feet high. The common kind abounds in 

 mucilage. All the species are large, coarse, and shrubby, 

 but showy plants, which flower for two or three months in 

 the year. 



GENUS Primula. Primrose. Primula comes from primus, 

 the first, because this plant flowers early in the spring. Some 

 of the species, of which there are many, are evergreen 

 plants, and some are deciduous herbs. They consist of dwarf 

 mountain, or Alpine plants, which are great favorites, on ac- 

 count of their early flowering and beauty. They grow from 

 three or four inches to a foot in height, and bear flowers of 

 various colors, as yellow, red, orange, or purple. The com- 

 mon kind, (Primula vulgaris,) has a single yellow flower; 

 leaves oblong, obovate, toothed and wrinkled, petals five. 

 The leaves and roots smell like aniseseed, when dried, and 

 are sometimes used as snuff for a sternutatory. Few plants 

 have been more celebrated among florists than this. Several 

 varieties have been produced by art, and rules written to as- 

 sist the purchaser in his selections, as well as the seller in 

 disposing of his goods. The auricula which belongs here is 

 a native of the Alpine regions of Italy, Switzerland and Ger- 

 many. The common colors in the wild state, are yellow and 

 red, but the colors of the cultivated kinds are innumerable, 

 and some of the species are of exquisite beauty and fra- 

 grance. This is only three or four inches high, but supports 

 many flowers on the same stalk. Fig. Fig. 157. 



157. Loudon states that in most of the 

 manufacturing towns in England, and 

 many in Scotland, the culture of this 

 flower forms a favorite amusement of 

 weavers and mechanics. Lancashire has 

 long been famous for its Auriculas. It is 

 no uncommon thing there, for a working 

 man, who earns perhaps from 18 to 30 

 shillings per week, to give two guineas 

 for a new variety of Auricula, with a view of crossing it with 

 some other, and thus raising seedlings of new properties. 



Whence does the genus Symphytum derive its name ? Whence cornea 

 the name of the primrose ? What is said of the genus Primula ? 



