PRIMULACE^E 431 



stronger nerves or angles; the lobes blunt or cuspidate. Along the coast, 

 California to the Arctic regions and the Atlantic coast. Europe and Asia. 



ORDER LVIII PRIMULACE^ Vent. Tabl. ii, 285. 



Herbs with simple leaves and symmetrical flowers. Calyx 4- 

 8-lobed or 4-8-parted, free, or rarely adnate to the base of the 

 ovary, imbricated in the bud, usually persistent, Corolla 

 hypogynous, except in Samolus in which it coheres below with 

 the base of the ovary, 4-8-lobed or 4-8-parted, rarely none. 

 Stamens as many as the lobes of the corolla and opposite to 

 them, inserted on the tube or base of the corolla, rarely peri- 

 gynous : anthers introrse. Ovary one-celled, with a free central 

 placenta. Fruit capsular. Seeds with small straight embryo 

 and copious albumen. 



TRIBE i. Ovary wholly free: ovules amphitropous or half- 

 anatropous. 



* Scapose or tufted : flowers chiefly 5-mero'is, umbellate or solitary : 

 capsule dehiscent by valves, at least at the apex. 



- Stamens connivent in a cone around the pistil, monadelphous. 



1 Dodecatheon Corolla 5-parted, its division reflexed : filaments shorter 



than the anthers. 



*- +- Corolla salverform or funnelform : stamens distinct, included, 

 with short filaments and short and blunt anthers. 



2 Primula Corolla with tube surpassing or at least equalling the calyx, 



and spreading, mostly obcordate or emarginate lobes: capsule many- 

 seeded. 



3 Donglasia Corolla with tube equalling or surpassing the calyx, and 



entire lobes : ovary 5-ovuled : capsule 1-3-seeded. 



4 Androsace Corolla short, its tube shorter than the calyx : ovules and 



seeds numerous or few. 



* * Leafy stemmed : corolla rotate or some what so and the divisions 

 convolute or sometimes involute in the bud, wanting in Glaux. 



-*- Capsules mostly globose, dehiscent vertically by valves, or 

 irregularly. 



5 Trientalis Leaves clustered at the summit of a simple stem : flowers 



mostly 7-merous : corolla completely rotate, without a tube, deeply 

 parted : filaments long and filiform, united at base into a ring. 



6 Steironema Leaves opposite, without dots : flowers 5 merous on slen- 



der drooping peduncles : corolla rotate, with no proper tube, deeply 

 parted ; the divisions each wrapped aroun i a stamen. 



7 Naumburgia Stems leafy throughout, the herbage glandular-dotted : 



flowers 5-7-merous, on stout axillary peduncles: corolla without prop- 

 er tube, the lobes not wrapped around the stamens. 



8 Glaux Stems leafy throughout: flowers solitary in the axils of the op- 



posite leaves, 5-merous ; corolla none : stamens inserted on the base of 

 the calyx. 



*- *- Capsule globose, the top falling off as a lid : seeds numerous. 



