JULY 149 



the spring flowerers being usually called C. coum, 

 repandum, and ibericum, and the autumn flowerers 

 C. hedercefolium, europceum, and neapolitanum. A 

 charming species has lately been brought from Mount 

 Lebanon (C. libanoti&um), and flowers in April. All 

 cyclamens are worth growing for the beauty of their 

 foliage alone. 



The American cowslip, or shooting star, bears reflexed 

 blossoms more like a cyclamen in form and colour than 

 an English cowslip, though, unlike the cyclamen, it 

 carries them in cowslip fashion at the top of a tall 

 stem. Linnaeus had some pretty fancies. Will any 

 one explain what he had in mind when he christened 

 this graceful plant Dodecatheon the Flower of the 

 Twelve Gods ? 



The loosestrifes, most of them, are more weedy in 

 habit than the rest of the primrose order. Perhaps 

 the best is Lysimackia ephemerum, not often seen, but 

 well fitted to adorn a shady nook with its delicate 

 white spires, three feet high. One must not part with 

 the primrose family without kindly mention of our 

 native chick weed wintergreen (Trientalis europcea), 

 which the Scottish Highlands share with northern 

 Europe, Asia, and America, and of the common 

 pimpernel (Anagallis tenella), which enjoys the dis- 

 tinction of being the only British wildflower, except 

 the corn poppy, that displays the national colour 

 scarlet. 



