PRIMROSE FAMILY 



PRIMULACEAE 



MONEYWORT 



Lysimachia Nummularia L. 



The genus name of this plant comes from two Greek 

 words meaning a release from, and strife. The Moneywort 

 is therefore a Loosestrife, but of the Primrose instead of 



the Loosestrife family. 



The Moneywort is 

 sometimes called Wander- 

 ing Jenny or Wandering 

 Sally because of its habit 

 of spreading by rooting at 

 the nodes of its runners. 

 It is a native of Europe 

 and was introduced into 

 this country as a garden 

 flower, but has wandered 

 out to many places from 

 Newfoundland and Vir- 

 ginia to Illinois. This 

 plant grows only in wet 

 soil, is often found along 

 ditches and sometimes in 

 the water. In fact it 

 grows well as a water 

 plant in aquaria. 



The smooth stems may 

 be 2 feet long and massing into a thick 

 carpet of foliage. The opposite leaves, like 

 ^ those shown, are dotted with glands. 



The flowers are produced singly in the 

 leaf axils from June to August. The ^ 

 lobes of the calyx are about half as long as those of the yellow 

 wheel-shaped corolla. On the corolla throat are attached the s 

 stamens whose filaments bear glands and are grown together at the 

 base. There is i pistil with a spherical ovary and a slender style. 

 The fruit is a capsule containing only a small number of seeds. 



In this low vale the promise of the year, 

 Serene, thoxi openest to the nipping gale. 



Unnoticed and alone. 



Thy tender elegance. 



The Early Primrose — Henry Kirk White 



230 



