CLASS V. OftDKKI.] PRIMULA. 245 



Habitat. Meadows and pastures ; frequent in England and Ireland ; 

 very rare in Scotland ; King's Park and Caroline Park, near Edinburgh. 

 Perennial ; flowering in April and May. 



Whatever doubt may be entertained with regard to the distinction of 

 the two former species, this will be found more constant in its charac- 

 ters. The smaller darker coloured concave corolla, the stamens 

 inserted in the middle of the tube, the elongation of the style, 

 and the more obtuse segments of the somewhat inflated calyx, are 

 characters which we have observed to remain unaltered (especially the 

 corolla) by cultivation. The modest cowslip is one of the welcome 

 forerunners of Spring, which is hailed with delight by the lover of 

 rural enjoyments, who perambulates the green meadows and pastures, 

 where 



" The sight is pleas'd, 

 The scent regards each odoriferous leaf, 

 Each opening blossom freely breathes abroad, 

 Its gratitude, and thanks him with its sweets." 



The flowers of the cowslip are much used to make an elegant kind of 

 wine, which is mild, and pleasantly impregnated with their fragrance, 

 an infusion is made either of the fresh or dried flowers, and is 

 esteemed as an anodine and sudorific. A beautiful coloured syrup is 

 also made of them, and sold in the shops; it is agreeably flavoured, 

 and is used mostly for children. The fragrance of the flowers was 

 supposed by Shakspeare to reside in the dark spots around the mouth 

 of the tube. He says 



" The cowslip tall her pensioners be ; 

 In these gold coats spots you see ; 

 Those be rubies, fairy flowers, 

 In those freckles live their savours, 

 I must go seek some dew drops here, 

 And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear." 



Midsummer Nights' Dream. 



4, P. farino'sa, Linn. (Fig. 325.) Bird's<eye Primrose. Leaves 

 obovate, lanceolate, obtuse, crenulated, smooth, mealy. Calyx oblong 

 ovate ; limb of the corolla flat ; mouth of the tube nearly closed with a 

 notched border ; segments obcordate, attenuated at the base, distant, 

 nearly as long as the tube. 



English Botany, t. 6. English Flora, vol. i. p. 273. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 108. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 184. 



Root with long branched fibres. Leaves numerous, radical, obovate, 

 lanceolate, obtuse, the outer ones frequently roundish, quite smooth, 

 a palish green above, veiny, and covered with a white powder beneath, 

 the margins crenulated in a more or less regular manner, rolled back in 

 a young state. Flowers numerous, in a simple umbel at the top of a 

 round smooth more or less powdery stem, erect, from six to twelve 

 inches high, each pedicle having at its base a subulatcd scale, dilated 



