The Botany of Shakespeare 229 



Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses, 

 That die unmarried, ere they can behold 

 Bright Phoebus in his strength a malady 

 Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and 

 The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds; 

 The flower-de-luce being one!" 



Primroses are dimorphic; that is, on the same species we 

 find flowers of different sorts. These are complete, but in 

 any particular flower the essential organs fail of adapta- 

 tion to each other the style in one too long, in another 

 too short, to receive pollen from the stamens of its own 

 flower. For fertilization such flowers are absolutely de- 

 pendent upon the assistance brought by insect visitors. 

 Perdita's primrose is Primula veris, the early primrose, 

 "that takes the winds of March with beauty," and dies 

 ere it beholds * ' bright Phoebus in his strength, ' ' and it is 

 precisely this species that forms the basis of one of Dar- 

 win's earliest and most fruitful studies in the cross-fer- 

 tilization of flowers. The styles in one form of the early 

 primrose are three times as long as in the other, the 

 stigmas differ, and the co-adaption of the parts of the 

 different flowers extends even to the grains of pollen. 

 Such flowers in the absence of insects are entirely un- 

 productive. Insects are rare so early in the year, and 

 accordingly many of the primroses die, as Perdita says, 

 1 ' unmarried. ' ' 



Of course, it is not pretended that Shakespeare knew 

 anything of this ; but that he should have discovered the 

 fact that the early primrose bears little or no seed, and 

 that he should have been impressed by the truth that this 

 is due to lack of fertilization, is wonderful. This cir- 



