40 The Primrose. 



removal of their exciting cause. The tincture forms an excellent 

 local application in sore throats and ulcerations of the mouth. 

 The dose is a drachm of the tincture, and twenty or thirty grains 

 of the powder, and a somewhat less quantity of the extract. 



There is a strange peculiarity about this tribe that has been 

 well denominated a monkey-like habit of imitation ; one of its 

 species apes the Ivy ; another, the Pansy ; others the Oak, Maple, 

 &c. ; while, by another mode of copying, we have the odors of 

 the Rose, Lemon, Musk, Fish, &c, &c. ; yet, despite all this, the 

 experienced botanist will readily tell almost any of them at first 

 eight. The following is a list of the different emblems : 



Apple Geranium, Present preference. 



Cranesbill Geranium Envy. 



Fish Geranium, Disappointed, expectation. 



Nutmeg Geranium, An expected meeting. 



Oak Geranium, Lady, deign to smile. 



Rose Geranium', Preference. 



Silver-leaved Geranium, Recall. 



The Primrose. 



Phillips waggishly remarks, that in tracing back the nativity 

 of flowers, we are greatly assisted by the mythological writings 

 of the ancients, for without these records we should have pro- 

 nounced them all as being children of Nature ; and the relation- 

 ship which this favorite flower bears to the gods would have re- 

 mained unknown, as well as the history of its origin. It was 

 anciently called Paralisos, after the name of a beautiful youth, 

 who was the son of Priapus and Flora, and who died of grief 

 for the loss of hid beloved Melicerta, but was preserved by his 

 parents, by being metamorphosed into this flower, which has 

 since divided the favors of the poets with the Violet and the 

 Rose. This is the type of the natural order, Primulacea. The 

 Primula Vulgaris — Primrose, is in the class Pentandria ; order 

 Monogynia. The generic name is derived from the Latin, 

 primus, first, because it flowers early in the spring ; its character 

 is — umbellets involucred ; calyx tubular, five-toothed ; corol 



