PRIMROSE FAMILY. Primulaceas. 



A handsome wild flower, trequentlv culti- 

 American . , , . ,. -,- ■, . , . /. 



Cowslip or vated, but conhiied in its natural state to the 



Shooting Star country west of Pennsylvania. The blunt 

 Dodecatheon lance-shajied deep green leaves proceed 

 Meadia from the root ; they are generally tooth- 



April-May ^®^^ ^^ nearly so, and their stems are long 

 and margined. The tall primary flower- 

 stalk is topped by a small cluster of delicate pendulous 

 light magenta, pink-magenta, or white flowers, the five 

 long corolla-divisions of which are strongly turned back- 

 ward. The exposed stamens are close-clustered — grouped 

 in a conelike figure ; the anthers are long, thin, and 

 golden yellow ; the base of each is thickened and marked 

 with magenta-purple. The flower is cross-fertilized 

 by bees. According to Professor Robertson, a visiting 

 bee to reach the nectar must force its tongue between 

 the anther-tips and come more or less in contact with 

 the mature stigma ; the anthers at this period are still 

 immature. Among the visitors are the bumblebee Bom- 

 bus amerieanorum, the bees of the family Andrenidce, 

 and the clouded sulphur butterfly Culias phUodice. 

 8-20 inches high. Moist hillsides, cliffs, open woods, 

 or prairies, from Penn. to S. Dak., south to Ga. and Tex. 

 Name from the Greek, meaning twelve gods. 



A delicate little plant found only in the 

 Dwarf Cana= ^, ^ ^ i • ^ 



dian Primrose northern part of our range, becring a fam- 



Primula il}' resemblance to the yellow English 



Mistassinica Primrose. The light green leaves are 

 Pale magenta= |3iyj^^ lance-shaped, tapering to a distinct 

 June-July stem, thin, green on both sides, rarely 



with a slightly meal}' appearance beneath, 

 and shallow-toothed. The pale magenta-pink or lighter 

 pink corolla is five-lobed, bluntly scallop-tipped, and 

 stained with yellow in the centre (sometimes the yellow 

 is absent). The few flowers are clustered at the top of 

 the long slender stalk. This species is apt to intergrade 

 with Primula farinosa, a taller one, with leaves white- 

 mealy beneath (at least when young), and flowers with 

 a more cuniform lobe, borne in thicker clusters. Con- 

 fined to moist situations; Me., central N. Y., and 

 Canada. 



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