SPRING IN THE GARDEN 189 



about these heralds of spring, or summer, for the 

 primrose lingers even to the time of the opening 

 of the first rose. Here are a few thoughts. The 

 auricula was first introduced into English gardens, 

 according to Gerard, as beares eares or mountain 

 cowslips, and was cultivated in London gardens 

 towards the end of the sixteenth century. The 

 first writer who distinguished this plant as the 

 auricula was Evelyn in his KaUndarium Horteiise 

 (1664), and in the following year Rea mentions it 

 in a way that shows the name to have been in 

 common use long before that time. 



The polyanthus is a still later flower. It is 

 first referred to by Parkinson in his Paradisiis, 

 and is described by Ray and other botanists later, 

 but the name itself (sometimes polyanthos and 

 polyanthous) does not occur until the beginning 

 of the eighteenth century. 



The cowslip is first described as a garden plant 

 by Turner in his interesting A New Herbal 

 " There are," he remarks, " some grene cowislipped 

 and some dubbel, tripel, quadrupel, that grow in 

 gardines." Double, it may be remarked, is equiva- 

 lent to two rows of petals, triple to three, and quad- 

 ruple to four rows. Cowslips are not mentioned in 

 either The Gardiner^ s Lahyiinth, or The Proffitahle 



