AMEEICAN 

 COWSLIP. 



JhiilecaUiecDi Mvudux. 



N American cowslip ought to 

 lie like a cowslip, but this 

 flower is more like that of 

 a potato. The comparison 

 cannot degrade the flower, 

 because the flowers of many 

 sorts of ])otatoes are beau- 

 tiful in the most proper sense 

 of the term. A very choice 

 Alpine known as lininoiitTui 

 Pijri'iiaicu comes nearer to 

 the likeness of a potato than 

 the ])(ii1cciil /ifoii before us, 

 but it is far removed botani- 

 cally, and the resemblance 

 is but superficial. But an 

 American cowsUp ought also 

 to be like a lettuce, for as 

 much is implied in the ge- 

 nerii' name ; but the resem- 

 blance of the leaves to those of a lettuce is less apparent 

 than that of the flowers to those of a potato. It is a 

 primulaceous plant, and therefore comes near to the cowslip 

 in affinities, as it does also in cultural rec^uirements — at 



