BUTTEBWOBT PBIMEOSE. 231 



It grew in the centre of the pond, with just its spike of flowers 

 above the water, and he was obliged to wade more than knee- 

 deep to reach it, his feet sinking in the mud. Like the Butter- 

 wort family, this has only two stamens and one style ; the calyx 

 has two segments, and the corolla has an upper and an under 

 lip. In the Greater Bladderwort the upper lip is beautifully 

 yeined with red, and the calyx, flower-stalks, and bracts are 

 yiolet. The leaves are thread-shaped, repeatedly branched, and 

 furnished with bladders ; these, being filled with air while the 

 plant is in bud, gradually float it to the surface, but when the 

 flowers are over the air leaves the bladders, and water takes 

 its place ; then the plant sinks back to the bottom. 



In the Intermediate Butterwort (U. intermedia), the upper 

 lip of the corolla is long and flat, and the bladders are separate 

 from the leaves. 



The Lesser Butterwort (U. minor), has a very short spur, only 

 half the length of that of the Greater one, and its flowers are 

 smaller. My specimens of these were sent from Hampshire. 



We now come to the PEIMEOSE tribe. The corolla in this 

 tribe is generally salver-shape or wheel-shaped. The tribe 

 boast few members of any utility, though many of them are 

 famous for beauty. No family of flowers is more familiarly 

 known than that of the Primrose. 



The common Primrose (Primula vulgaris, Plate XIV., fig. 3), 

 is a universal favourite ; its cheerful blossoms seem to welcome 

 and rejoice in the return of spring, as Wordsworth says : 



" Through Primrose tufts in that sweet bower 

 The Periwinkle trailed its wreaths ; 

 And 'tis my faith that every flower 

 Enjoys the air it breathes." 



And when he wishes to paint the extreme of insensibility, he 

 writes : 



" The Primrose by the river's brim 

 A yellow Primrose was to him, 

 And nothing more." 



Howitt, too, celebrates its praises, and, with a heart yearning 



