THE PRIMROSE TRIBE. 159 



The only other monopetalous tribe in which the 

 stamens are opposite the lobes of the corolla, is the 

 Myrsinaceous, to which belong the Ardisias, so fre- 

 quently seen in stoves; but all these are exotics, and 

 are bushes or trees, by which circumstance they are 

 at once known from the Primrose Tribe, without 

 taking other circumstances into account. 



The ovary of the Cowslip {fig. 5.) is a superior 

 hollow case, of a top-shaped form, and marked by ten 

 longitudinal furrows, of which five are more con- 

 spicuous than the others ; it is surmounted by a slender 

 thread-shaped style, which terminates in a round pin- 

 headed stigma. From the number of furrows on the 

 outside of the ovary you would naturally expect that it 

 should contain five cells ; but upon opening it you 

 can onlv discern a sing-le cavitv, with a free central 

 placenta {fig. G. a.), loaded with ovules in the middle. 

 If, however, you were to dissect the ovary, when very 

 young, you would then find five cells cut off^ from each 

 other by five partitions ; but long before the flower 

 opens these partitions are broken and disappear, and 

 the consequence is that the placenta grows up in the 

 middle without any connection with the sides of the 

 ovary. 



The fruit of the Cowslip is well worth an attentive 

 study. It is invested with the dry, dead, but firm and 

 little altered calyx {fig. 70» ^^ the bottom of which 

 stands a seed-vessel that splits at the point, with ten 

 teeth which turn backwards to allow the seeds to fall 

 out ; its centre is occupied by a brown hard cone, 

 over which the seeds are closely arranged. Each seed 



