168 THE LOOSESTELFE6. 



stems and rounded leaves, is a handsome foreigner fully 

 naturalized. 



In all, we have 10 species. (See Bot. & Flor., p. 212.) 

 The student may record the analysis of any one of them in 

 connection with this lesson. 



Classification. The Order PKIMTJLACE^;, the Prim- 

 worts, represented by the genera Lysimachia, Trientalis, and 

 Dodecatheon, receives its name from the leading genus, 

 Primula, the Primrose.* The following are its attributes : 



Plants low, herbaceous. 



Leaves all radical or mostly opposite. 



Flowers regular, gamopetalous, 5-parted. 



Stamens 5, opposing the 5 corolla lobes or petals. 



Pistils consolidated into a 1 -sty led, 1 -celled ovary. 



Placenta free, central. 



Seeds many or few, with lleshy albumen. 



The Primworts include 20 genera and 216 species, of which many 

 are ornamental, especially the Primworts which have long been favor- 

 ites in the gardens of Europe, and well known in ours. Tlueir numer- 

 ous varieties are variously called Oxlip, Cowslip, Auricula, Primrose, 

 and Polyanthus. 



Cyclamen is native in Syria and Europe. Its round solid bulb (conn) 

 is eaten by swine. Its scapes twist into a coil around the ovary after 

 flowering, and lie close to the ground while the seeds ripen. It is very 

 pretty in pots. 



AnagdlUs, the Poor-man's Weather-glass, is a beautiful trailing 

 weed. It opens its pretty red flowers from 7 to 2 o'clock if the weather 

 be fair, but closes them on a damp or cloudy day. It is noted for its 



* Name from primus, first ; for its early bloom. The delicate flowers of some of 

 the 60 species appear when all nature is otherwise inert. They are chiefly natives of 

 Europe, and pre-eminently Alpine. Amid the cold blasts of these dreary regions, 

 where the roots are perhaps bathed in ice-cold water, the little primrose lies secure 

 beneath its fleecy mantle, waiting for a gleam of sunshine only to melt a patch of 

 snow for it to smile forth in all its loveliness of white, yellow, violet, lilac, and sky- 

 blue. A traveller one day passing over the Faulhorn saw a field of snow where a 

 horse had crossed, and the snow disappearing in his tracks, the little circles were 

 brimful of flowers of every hue. Only 2 species are native in the United States, and 

 these so rare that the collector looks for them as for treasure. 



