PRIMROSE FAMILY 



PRIMULACE^E 



The Primrose family does not occupy so promi- 

 nent a place among our American wild flowers as 

 it does in England where the beautiful English 

 primroses grow wild in great abundance and are 

 familiar to everyone. With the exception of the 

 Star-flower, the Shooting Star and the Pimpernel, 

 the American members of this family are not 

 especially attractive. The family is character- 

 ized by having flowers which are perfect and 

 regular, with as many stamens as there are petals 

 and a single style and stigma. 



SHOOTING STAR. The American Cowslip or 

 Shooting Star is an attractive wild flower which is 

 found abundantly in open woods from Pennsylva- 

 nia southward. The rose-purple or white flowers 

 are pendent from slender stalks which arise from 

 a more robust scape, the flowers usually being ten 

 or more inches from the ground. The blossoms 

 appear late in spring or early in summer. 



LOOSESTRIFE. In damp, swampy places one 

 is almost certain to find one or more species of 

 Loosestrife in blossom throughout the summer. 

 The commonest of these is the Yellow Loose- 

 strife which has an abundance of small flowers 

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