RIVER-SIDE FLOWERS. 36 1 



almost all the year; closing in the evening and wet 

 weather, and opening on the return of the sun." 

 Ley den says : 



" Star of the mead ! sweet daughter of the day, 

 Whose opening flower invites the morning ray, 

 Oft have I watched thy closing buds at eve, 

 Which for the parting sunbeams seem to grieve, 

 And, when gay morning gilt the dew-bright plain, 

 Seen them unclasp their folded leaves again." 



The " PALE PRIMROSE, Harbinger of Spring " (Primula 

 vulgaris) Fig. in " E. B.," 1129 which decks the banks 

 and copses so gloriously with its petals of delicate yellow, 

 often so abundant as completely to carpet the ground on 

 which it is growing, and frequently combined with the 

 trailing periwinkle and the purple violet. Wordsworth 

 says : 



" Through primrose tufts in that sweet bower, 



The periwinkle trail'd its wreaths, 

 And 'tis my faith that every flower 

 Enjoys the air it breathes." 



If we trace the flower-stalks of the primrose to their base, 

 we shall find that they all arise from one common point, 

 and constitute, as it were, a sessile umbel. The wanton 

 destruction of the primrose for what is now called Primrose 

 Day is appalling, and will, if not checked, annihilate this 

 lovely emblem of the spring. 



Another primula is the COWSLIP or PAIGLE (Primula 

 veris) Fig. in " E. B.," 1730 which frequents the spring- 

 meadows more than the copses and hedgerows, and differs 

 from the primrose in having a regular umbellated flower- 

 stalk. Whether the cowslip is a distinct species or 

 merely a variety of the common primrose, or vice versa, is 

 a question. The late Professor Henslow has seen both 

 produced from the same root, but it is to be noticed that 

 the varieties or species are very constant in their wild 

 state, both as to their forms and localities. The five 

 orange spots at the bottom of the corolla are supposed to 

 contain the peculiar odour of the plant. 



