PRIMROSE TRIBE 



237 



made to hang across a string stretched between the backs of two 

 chairs. The flowers are then carefully pressed together and the 

 string is tied tightly, so as to collect them into a ball. Care should 

 be taken to choose such heads or umbels only as have all the flowers 

 open, or the surface of the ball will be uneven. Pastures; common. 

 — Fl. April, May. Perennial. 



4. P. farinosa (Bird's-eye Primrose). — A very beautiful little 

 plant, with a rosette of small leaves covered on the under side with 

 a white powdery meal, as also are the slender stalks and calvces. 

 The flowers, which grow in a compact umbel, are of a delicate lilac- 

 pink with a yellow eye. Mountainous pastures ; not uncommon in 

 the north of England and south of Scotland. — ^Fl. June, July. 

 Perennial. A white variety is sometimes found, but is extremely 

 rare and beautiful. Another smaller form, with broader leaves and 

 flowers of a deeper shade of colour, known as P. scolica, is found in 

 the Orkneys and a few places in the north of Scotland. 



2. HoTTONiA (Water Violet) 



I. H. Palustris (Water Violet). — The only 

 British species. An aquatic plant, with finely 

 divided, submersed leaves ; flowers large, 

 handsome, pinkish, with a yellow eye, ar- 

 ranged in whorls around a leafless stalk, 

 which rises several inches out of the water. 

 Ponds and ditches ; not very common.^- 

 Fl. May, June. Perennial. 



3. Cyclamen (Sow-bread) 



I. C. hedercBjolium (Ivy - leaved Sow- 

 bread). — The only species found in Britain, 

 and probably not a native. Remarkable 

 for its globular brown root and nodding pink 

 or white flowers, the lobes of which are bent 

 upwards. As the fruit ripens the flower-stalk 

 curls spirally and buries it in the earth. The root is intensely 

 acrid. Found established in woods in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey. — 

 Fl. autumn. 



4. Anagallis [Pimpernel) 



I. A. arvensis (Scarlet Pimpernel). — Leaves egg-shaped, dotted 

 beneath, sessile ; petals crenate. A pretty little prostrate plant, 

 with bright scarlet flowers, which expand only in line weather, and 

 have consequently gained for the plant the name of Poor man's 

 weather-glass. The colour of the flowers occasionally varies to flesh- 

 colour or white, with a red eye. A bright bkie variety, which some 

 botanists consider a distinct species, is more unfrequent. Cultivated 

 ground ; abundant. — Fl. June to September. Annual. 



HOTTONIA 



{Water Violet) 



