THE COWSLIP. 



Primula veris. Nat. Ord., Primulacea. 

 IKE the primrose, the cowslip, its 

 near relative, is one of the characteristic 

 flowers of the spring, the primrose being 

 more especially met with on the hedge- 

 , bank or in the coppice, localities af- 

 fording some little shade and shelter, 

 while the cowslip will ordinarily be 

 found on open pasture and downland. 

 The cowslip is the Primula veris 

 of the systematic botanist. The 

 origin of the vulgar name is obscure; 

 \ it has been suggested that it is 

 probably a corruption of cow's-leek, 

 but this would only appear, assum- 

 ing it to be so, to remove the diffi- 

 culty one stage further back, as 

 one fails to see any more distinct 



appropriateness of title in the possibly primitive form of 

 the word. The plant is also in some parts of the country 

 called the paigle, and in old herbals, the Herb-Peter, the 

 pendant flowers faintly suggesting a bunch of keys, the 

 badge of the great apostle. 



The cowslip, like the primrose, may fairly be con- 

 sidered one of the flowers of the poets ; Shakespeare and 

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