7 o FLOWERS OF THE WOODS AND COPSES 



opened the door. The child entered a room covered with primroses 

 where gold and jewels were deposited, and when they had been taken 

 the primroses had to be put back or else the favoured person would be 

 followed by a " black dog ". 



The Primrose is described as a flower which "maidens as a true- 

 love in their bosoms place ". The Primrose was used in the bridal 

 bouquet. It was the famous "key-flower" which revealed hidden 

 recesses in mountains where treasure was concealed. It is necessary 

 to give a full handful of primroses and violets as a gift, or the chickens 

 and ducklings will be affected, according to ancient superstition. 



The Primrose has been used as an emetic. In Chaucer's time it 

 was one of the components of the all-powerful " save ". With Water- 

 Violet and the Avens it was supposed to be a remedy in liver com- 

 plaints, for " schaking of hede and of handes ", and for a person "who 

 cannot speak well ". 



It has long been cultivated as a garden flower, and many varieties 

 have been derived from it differing in colour and form. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



199. Primula vulgaris, Huds. Flowering stem a scape, leaves 

 ovate, oblong, dentate, wrinkled, flowers yellow, calyx tubular, with 

 subulate teeth, capsule ovate, calyx exceeding it by a half, corolla limb 

 flat. 



Wood Loosestrife (Lysimachia nemorum, L.) 



This little woodland flower is local but widespread, and known 

 throughout the Northern Temperate Zone in Europe, but not in 

 Prussia, Greece, and Turkey. No early records are extant. The 

 Wood Loosestrife grows in every part of Great Britain except Hunts, 

 S. Lines, and the Shetlands. In the Highlands it ascends to 2500 ft. 



Watson regards it as a frequent but not quite common plant, and 

 possibly occurring everywhere except in Huntingdon, being local in 

 Bedford and Cambridge. Thus it is not common in the more low- 

 lying damp districts of the central plain. Generally it occurs in woods, 

 loving a shady habitat, and under hedges in wooded districts. 



The stems of the Wood Loosestrife are usually lying on the ground, 

 numerous, furrowed each side, reddish, rooting at intervals. The 

 leaves are opposite, stalked, egg-shaped, acute, glossy, yellowish-green, 

 with marked veins. The flowers are yellow, small, on flower-stalks in 

 the axils, longer than the leaves, i -flowered and slender. The calyx 

 is deeply divided into 5 or 6 segments, which are narrow and awl-like, 

 sub-triangular, and do not fall. The corolla, which is wheel-shaped, 



