PRIMROSE TRIBE 



*37 



made to hang across a string stretched between the backs of two 

 chairs. The flowers are then carefully pressed together and the 

 string is tied tightly, so as to collect them into a ball. Care should 

 be taken to choose such heads or umbels only as have all the flowers 

 open, or the surface of the ball will be uneven. Pastures; common. 

 Fl. April, May. Perennial. 



4. P. farinosa (Bird's-eye Primrose). A very beautiful little 

 plant, with a rosette of small leaves covered on the under side with 

 a white powdery meal, as also are the slender stalks and calyces. 

 The flowers, which grow in a compact umbel, are of a delicate lilac- 

 pink with a yellow eye. Mountainous pastures ; not uncommon in 

 the north of England and south of Scotland. Fl. June, July. 

 Perennial. A white variety is sometimes found, but is extremely 

 rare and beautiful. Another smaller form, with broader leaves and 

 flowers of a deeper shade of colour, known as P. scotica, is found in 

 the Orkneys and a few places in the north of Scotland. 



2. Hottonia {Water Violet) 



1. H. Palustris (Water Violet). The only 

 British species. An aquatic plant, with finely 

 divided, submersed leaves ; flowers large, 

 handsome, pinkish, with a yellow eye, ar- 

 ranged in whorls around a leafless stalk, 

 which rises several inches out of the water. 

 Ponds and ditches ; not very common. 

 Fl. May, June. Perennial. 



3. Cyclamen (Sow-bread) 



1. C. hederce folium (Ivy - leaved Sow- 

 bread). The only species found in Britain, 

 and probably not a native. Remarkable 

 for its globular brown root and nodding pink 

 or white flowers, the lobes of which are bent 

 upwards. As the fruit ripens the flower-stalk 

 curls spirally and buries it in the earth. The root is intensely 

 acrid. Found established in woods in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey. 

 Fl. autumn. 



4. Anagallis (Pimpernel) 



1. A. arvensis (Scarlet Pimpernel). Leaves egg-shaped, dotted 

 beneath, sessile ; petals crenate. A pretty little prostrate plant, 

 with bright scarlet flowers, which expand only in fine weather, and 

 have consequently gained for the plant the name of Poor man's 

 weather-glass. The colour of the flowers occasionally varies to flesh- 

 colour or white, with a red eye. A bright blue variety, which some 

 botanists consider a distinct species, is more unfrequent. Cultivated 

 ground ; abundant. Fl. T un e to September. Annual. 



Hottonia 

 (Water Violet) 



