CHAPTER XIV. 



THE HIGrHEE DICOTYLEDONS. 



346. In the Primrose (Primula vulgaris) note the thick 

 stem which grows in the soil bears crowded bases of former 

 leaves, together with numerous roots, and stores up reserve 



SHORT-STYLED LONG-STYLED 

 Fig. 137. Vertical Sections of Short-styled and Long-styled Flowers of Primrose. 



food; the pale green leaves, arranged in a rosette at the 

 growing end of the stem, each being 3 to 6 inches long, 

 obovate, toothed, wrinkled, with a broad midrib, veins very 

 prominent on the lower side, which is hairy. 



The flowers (Figs. 137, 138), each carried on a hairy pinkish 

 stalk, appear to arise singly from the stem, but close inspec- 

 tion shows that they really form an umbel, since all the stalks 



339 



