Primula.] primulace.e. 399 



Less general Ihan the last, and in usually drier more exposed places, as mea- 

 dows, pastures, open groves, on chalky slopes, high downs, heaths, &c. Fl. April, 

 May. 11. 



E. Med. — Rarely seen about Ryde , in fields near Quarr abbey and the Spencer 

 road, sparingly. Frequent about Blading and Yaverland. Common along Un- 

 derciiff, at East-end, Bonchurch, Steephill, &c. Newchurch. Fields about Nun- 

 well, in plenty. At the foot of Messley down, by Knighton West copse, &c. 

 Bloodstone copse, near Ashey, 1849. 



W. Med. — Carisbvooke-castle walls, and on the glacis, &c. Plentiful between 

 Newport and Sliorwell, in copses and open fields, as about Idlecombe, Buceombe, 

 &c. Everywhere about Thorley, with /3. Plentiful on the slope of Gatcombe 

 and Cbillerton downs, at the back of Toll copse ; about New Barn, in the long 

 and short coppices ; &c. — 1845. In Lordeu copse, and generally dispersed on 

 and at the base of the central chalk range. Swainslon, in profusion, Ladi/ Simeon, 

 (i. Not uncommon intermixed with a., into which it may be seen so insensibly 

 passing, that many individuals appear exactly intermediate between both varie- 

 ties. Near Brading, and in various places between Newport and Sliorwell. 

 Steephill, not unfrequent. Very common in meadows about Thorley. Meadow 

 betwixt Nunwell new farm and the down, frequent, Dr. Bdt-SaUer : on visiting 

 the place with Dr. S., May 14th, 1849, not a sinijle Oxlip could be found amongst 

 thousands of Cowslips. At Swainston, Ladi/ Simeon. Occasionally found in 

 copses and meadows, with the common Primrose, where a Cowslip does not grow 

 within miles of the place. 



Root as in the Primrose, but smaller and scarcely at all inclined to extend 

 horizontally, emitting a sweet anisate odour, as remarked by Linnasus. Leaves 

 also similar, but not much above half the size or even less than that, firmer, more 

 waved and wrinkled, and of a grayer green, with more strongly deflesed and iuvo- 



Plant. Hist p. 301 (left-hand fig.); that of Fl. Danica, tab. 434, may admit of 

 doubt. 



The Oxlip has been thought by many a hybrid between the Cowslip and the 

 Primrose, but, conceding the point to those who still insist on keeping these two 

 latter separate, from what we know of the modifications to which both are subject, 

 and by which they as it were anastomose in the Polyanthus, it is reasonable to 

 conclude that the Oxlip is the primary deviation from the Cowslip to the Primrose 

 form, and an advance half-way from the Cowslip to the Polyanthus, which last is 

 itself pretty exactly at the point of structural equidistance between P. veris and P. 

 vulgaris. The specific identity however of the Cowslip and Primrose being once 

 admitted, the notion of the Oxlip being a mule production falls to the ground 

 immediately. 



The Cowslip may be regarded as a contracted and as it were concentrated form of 

 the Primrose, with smaller leaves and flowers, which last are more highly coloured 

 and more powerfully scented, the peduncles shorter, the limb of the corolla con- 

 tracted and hence cupped or concave, and the leaves constricted in the middle ; 

 each of these differences denoting a concentration or abridgment of the organs in 

 the entire plant. 



Mr. H. C. Watson says: — "Even those botanists who refuse faith in the care- 

 fulness or exactness of the experiments on record may see with their own eyes 

 that the intermediate links (between the genuine Primrose and Cowslip) do exist. 

 Indeed they may be raised by anybody, may be seen in many gardens, or may be 

 found wild by diligent search. Nevertheless, while I see no escape from the 

 necessity of doing so, I am still somewhat reluctant to place Cowslip and Prim- 

 rose as a single species. The fact once fairly admitted of such extensive varia- 

 tions of a single species, must throw doubt upon thousands of supposed species as 

 they now stand recorded and described in books." — Phytologist, ii. p. 44. 



The fact is, these forms of Primula are at once a stumbling-block and a warn- 

 ing to the contenders for minute specific characters, which they must find very 

 difficult to gaiiisay. 



