PRIMROSE TRIBE. 513 



("Named, some say, from the Island of Samos, where 

 Valerandus, a botanist of the 1 6th century, gathered our 

 Samolus Valerandi" Sir W. J. Hooker.) 



1. PRIMULA (Primrose). 



1. P. vulgdris (Primrose). Flowers each on a separate 

 stalk ; leaves oblong, egg-shaped. Banks and woods, 

 abundant. Among the most welcome of spring flowers, 

 and too well known to need any description. The 

 colour of the flower is so peculiar as to have a name 

 of its own ; artists maintain that primrose-colour is a 

 delicate green ; white, purple, and lilac varieties are not 

 uncommon. Fl. March May. Perennial. 



2. P. elatior (Oxlip). Flowers in a stalked umbel, 

 salver-shaped ; calyx tubular ;' leaves egg-shaped, con- 

 tracted below the middle. Woods and pastures, not 

 common. Distinguished from the Primrose by its um- 

 bellate yellow flowers, and by its leaves, which become 

 suddenly broader above the middle, and from the Cowslip 

 by its tubular, not bell-shaped calyx, and flat, not con- 

 cave corolla. Fl. April, May. Perennial. 



3. P. veris (Cowslip, Paigle). Flowers in a stalked 

 umbel, drooping, funnel-shaped ; calyx bell-shaped ; leaves 

 egg-shaped, contracted below the middle. Pastures, 

 common. Among the many pleasing purposes to which 

 these favourite flowers are applied by children, none is 

 prettier than that of making Cowslip Balls. The method, 

 which may not be known to all my readers, is as follows : 

 The umbels are picked off as close as possible to the 

 top of the main stalk, and from fifty to sixty are 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 bail will be uneven. Fl. April, May. 

 Perennial. 



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