mention it, though it is fully described by their con- 

 temporary, Gerard. 



That it was previously known to continental bota- 

 nists is certain, for Bauhin quotes authorities who 

 had noticed it ; and adds, that it was called Auricula 

 Ursi, or Bear's-ear, from its leaves resembling that 

 animal's ear. In his PhytopinaXi published in 1569, 

 he enumerates 12 sorts. 



The Auricula is described and figured by Gerard in 

 his Herbal, which appeared in 1597, and it is there 

 called the Bear's-ear or Mountain Cowslip. He says 

 there were then many sorts, giving drawings of eight, 

 the yellow, the purple, the scarlet, the blush-coloured, 

 and several reds. Like Bauhin, he gives them the 

 specific botanical name of Auricula Ursi ; but by 

 Matthiolus and others it was named Sanicula alpina, 

 from its supposed healing virtues and mountain birth- 

 place. It was often called by ladies the French 

 Cowslip.* Gesner named it Lunaria anthritica and 

 Paralytica alpina. Parkinson says it obviously be- 

 longed to the Cowslip family, but Lugdwig was the 

 first to arrange it there under the generic name of 

 Primula, 



* It is very certain that they were thus early much cultivated 

 by French florists, for there is a poem in their praise, in a curi- 

 ous work published at Douay, in 1616, entitled "Jardin 

 d'Hyver;" and with the verses are numerous drawings of the 

 Auriculas, or ** d'Oreilles d'Ours," as they are there called. 



