468 PRIMULACE^. Primula. 



2. PRIMULA, Lian. Primrose. 



CaljTC 5-cleft. Corolla commonly salverform, enlarging more or less just atove 

 the insertion of the stamens ; the limb 5-parted ; lobes obovate, or obcordate. Stamens 

 included, distinct. Stigma capitate, depressed. Capsule ovoid, 5-valved at summit, 

 tlie valves again usually 2-cleft. Seeds very numerous on the large central placenta. 

 — Perennial herbs ; with clustered leaves at the root or rootstock, and simple 

 scapes bearing solitary or usually an umbel of several handsome flowers. 



Primroses, Cowslips, and Auriculas of the gardens are Old World representatives of this genus. 

 In California only one indigenous species has been detected, but that is a new and charming 

 accession to the genus, viz., 



1. P. SufErutescens, Gray. Glabrous : leaves thick and rather coriaceous, 

 cuneate-spatulate, coarsely toothed at the apex, persistent and crowded on firm and 

 rather fleshy-ligneous creeping and densely matted rootstocks : scape 3 - 7-flowered : 

 involucre of a few short and subulate bracts : calyx campanulate, minutely glan- 

 dular-puberulent, deeply 5-cleft : corolla deep maroon-purple Avith a yellowish eye ; 

 its tube longer than the calyx, but hardly longer than tlie obovate-emargiuate or 

 obcordate lobes, — Proc. Am. Acad. vii. 371. 



On exposed rocks of the Sierra Nevada, at the elevation of 9,000 to 11,000 feet ; above the 

 Yoseniite Valley, Bridges (who first discovered it), Muir, &c. Silver Mountain, Brewer. Mt. 

 Stanford, Bolander, Kcllurig. The thick matted rootstocks fill the crevices of rocks, and are 

 more creeping than iu any other species. Leaves an inch long, or rather more. Scape 3 or 4 

 inches high. Coiolla fully two thirds of an inch in diameter. 



3. ANDROSACE, Tourn. 

 Calyx 5-cleft. Corolla short-salver-shaped or ahnost rotate ; the tube shorter than 

 the calyx ; tliroat commonly constricted ; the small limb 5-parted. Stamens and 

 short style included. Capsule 5-valved, few - many-seeded. — Very small or deli- 

 ■cate herbs ; with clustered leaves, and small umbellate or sometimes solitary flowers, 

 usually on a scape : corolla white or nearly so. 



Mainly an alpine or subalpine genus, chiefly of the Old World ; no species yet detected in Cali- 

 foi-nia or on its immediate borders ; but the two following may be expected at the north. 



A. SEPTENTRIONALIS, Linn. : a barely pubenilent annual or biennial, with an open tuft of 

 lanceolate or oblong radical leaves, from which are sent up numerous filiform scapes, an inch to a 

 span high, bearing a loose umbel of several flowers, on long filifoiTU pedicels : calyx-lobes ovate- 

 subnlate, gi-een, equalling the very small corolla. — Mountains of Nevada and northward to the 

 arctic regions, and in the Old World. 



A. riLiFORMis, Eetz, is similar, but glabrous, with broader leaves, and ovate and bluntish 

 more membranaceous calyx-lobes shorter than the corolla ; this, as in the preceding, only a line or 

 so in diameter. — Occurs in the mountains of the southwestern part of Oregon, as well as in the 

 Rocky Mountains ; also Northern Asia. 



4. TRIENTALIS, Linn. Star-flower. 

 Calyx and wheel-shaped corolla 7-parted, sometimes G - 9-parted, widely spread- 

 ing from the very base. Filaments slender, spreading, united in a ring at the base : 

 anthers oblong, revolute after discharging the pollen. Style filiform : stigma small. 

 Capsule at length splitting into 5 valves, few-seeded. — Low and glabrous perennials ; 

 with filiform tuberiferous rootstocks, sending up simple stems, which bear alternate 

 scales or sometimes small leaves below, and a whorl of fully developed leaves at 

 the summit, in their axils slender peduncles supporting a star-shaped white flower. 



The Atlantic States have a peculiar species, T. Americana, Pursh, with long lanceolate leaves 

 t.apering to both ends, and gi-adually acuminate divisions to the corolla. The Pacific States have 

 only forms of the Old World species. 



