PEIMULACEiE. 353 



a spreading, 5-lobed limb, each lobe often notched or 2-cleft. Capsule open- 

 ing at the top in 5 teeth. 



A genus widely spread in Europe and nortliern and central Asia, contain- 

 ing many alpine species, one of which reappears in Antarctic America. 



Leaves rather large, wrinlded, light green. Lobes of the corolla 



slightly notched 1. Common P. 



Peduncles apparently radical, and one-flowered Var. a. Primrose. 



Peduncles bearing an umbel of several flowers. 



Limb of the corolla small and concave Var. b. Cowslip. 



Limb of the corolla broad and flat . For. c. Oxlip, 



Leaves small, not wrinkled, covered underneath as well as the calyx 



with a white meal. Corolla small, the lobes deeply notched . . 2. Mealy P. 



1. Comiuon Primrose. Primula veris, Linn. 



Stock perennial and tufted. Leaves ovate or oblong, usually about 3 

 inciies long, of a pale green, shglitly tootlied and much wrinkled. Calyx 

 tubular, half an inch or rather more m length. Corolla usually yellow or 

 straw-coloured ; the tube nearly as long or longer than the calyx ; the limb 

 deeply 5-lobed, each lobe shortly notched. Stamens included in the tube. 



In meadows, open woods, and hedge-banks, m Europe and Russian Asia. 

 Fl. spring. It occurs commonly in three different forms, originally united 

 by Linnfeus under one botanical species, but since his days considered by most 

 botanists as so many distmct and constant species, although moi'e recent in- 

 ' vestigation has shown that Linnseus's views were correct. The Polyanthuses 

 of our gardens are cultivated varieties of the same species. The three indi- 

 genous races are : 



a. The Primrose {P. vulgaris, Eng. Bot. t. 4). More or less hairy. Pe- 

 duncles apparently all radical, as long as the leaves, each bearing a single 

 large flower, with a broad flat limb. Calyx-teeth narrow and pointed. If 

 closely examined the peduncles wLU, however, be seen really to spring from 

 an umbel, of which the common stalk is so short as to be concealed by the 

 base of the leaves. — On hedge-banks and in rather open woods ; parti- 

 cularly abundant in Britain, and extends over central Europe and some 

 mountainous districts of southern Europe, wanting in north-eastern Europe, 

 and not recorded from tlie Altai or from Siberia. 



b. The Cowslip {P. veris, Eng. Bot. t. 5). Not hairy, but often covered 

 with a minute, pale down. Flower-stalks rising above the leaves, bearing an 

 umbel of flowers. Calyx-teeth usually broad and obtuse. Corolla with a 

 concave or cup-shaped limb, very much smaller than in the Pnmrose, but 

 varying in size. — In rather dry meadows and pastures, abundant over nearly 

 the whole of Europe and Russian Asia to the Caucasus and Altai, dnd ex- 

 tending much further over southern Europe than the other varieties. Not 

 liowever an Arctic plant, and, in Britain, not so common in Scotland as in 

 England. 



c. The Oxlip {P. elaiior, Eng. Bot. t. 513), including all the interme- 

 diate forms which have the limb of the corolla broader and flatter than in 

 the Cowslip, but the flowers in an umbel raised above the ground, and usually 

 above the leaves, on a common peduncle. Calyx and hairiness partaking 

 sometimes of those of the Primrose, sometimes of the Coivslip. — Usually in 

 moister and more luxuriant meadows and pastures than the Cowslip, in less 

 shady situations than the Primrose, but frequently intermixed with either 

 or with both, and passing gradually into the one or the other. Geographical 

 range nearly that of the Coivslip, Isvtt much less abundant, except in some 

 parts of central Europe. 



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