422 THE KINDS OF PLANTS 



XLV. PRIMULACE^. Primrose Family. 



Low herbs with leaves radical or opposite: flowers perfect, reg- 

 ular, 5-parted, monopetalous; stamens 5, inserted in corolla-tube, each 

 opposite a lobe; style and stigma 1; ovary 1-celled, superior, with 

 3 central placentse. About 300 species in some 25 genera. 



a. Plants with all leaves basal: flowers on a scape. 



B. Corolla-lobes spreading 1. Primula 



bb. Corolla-lobes reflexed. 



c. Several flowers on the scape; stamens protmding. . .2. Dodecatheon 



cc. One flower on the scape; stamens included 3. Cyclamen 



aa. Plants with leafy stems 4. Lysimachia 



1. PRfMULA. Primrose. Cowslip (of England). Auricula. 



Low perennials herbs, with radical leaves: flowers in an involucrate 

 umbel in most species, terminal on a scape; calyx 5-cleft; corolla salver- 

 shaped, with 5 spreading lobes, entire or notched; stamens 5, with short 

 filaments included in corolla-tube, often of different lengths: capsules 

 ovoid, opening by valves or teeth at the top. Native species rare, but a 

 number of exotic primroses are much cultivated. 



P. sinensis, Sabine. Downy greenhouse plant: flowers in umbels, large 

 and showy, of different colors, single or double; calyx large and inflated: 

 leaves cordate, 7-9-lobed, on long petioles. China. 



P. obconica, Hance. Leaves ovate-cordate: scapes a foot high, bearing 

 pink, purplish or whitish flowers in large clusters, the petals obconical and 

 notched at the end; tube twice longer than the shallow-spreading calyx. 

 The hairs on this plant are poisonous to some persons. Greenhouses. China. 



P. Forbesi, Franch. Baby primrose. Scapes many and very slender, 

 6-12 in., loosely hairy, bearing small lilac or rose flowers in successive 

 whorls on slender pedicels: leaves small and crowded at the crown, oblong, 

 somewhat sinuate-toothed. Greenhouses. China. 



P. Polyantha, Hort. Polyanthus. Hardy primulas, grown in borders for 

 the early spring bloom, of hybrid origin: leaves upright, oblong, tapering into 

 a winged petiole, shallowly toothed, rugose beneath: flowers not much over- 

 topping the leaves, tubular, with spreading limb, in shades of yellow and red. 



2. DODECATHEON. 



Smooth perennial herbs: leaves radical, simple, oblong or spatulate: 

 flowers nodding in a terminal umbel on erect, unbranching, leafless scapes, 

 with involucres of small bracts; calyx 5-cleft, lobes reflexed; corolla-tube 

 very short, 5-parted, and the segments strongly reflexed; stamens 5, with 

 short filaments, united at base, the anthers long, acute and uniting at tip, 

 forming a cone; style exserted. 



D. Meadia, Linn. Shooting star. Wild in open woodland in central 

 states and South and West; also cultivated; resembles Cyclamen in the flow- 

 ers, which are white or rose-purple, nodding on slender pedicels; scape 6 in. 

 to 2 ft. high. 



