The Primrose. 41 



salver-form, five-lobed ; tube cylindric ; throat open, division of 

 corol, emarginate ; capsule one-celled, with a ten-cleft mouth ; 

 stigma globular. 



Our species is an evergreen herbaceous plant, perennial in its 

 duration, highly ornamental, and bearing a pale yellow flower 

 from March to May, often named, from its peculiar tint, the Sul- 

 phur Colored Primrose. The leaves are egg-shaped, with the 

 largest end towards the stem, toothed and rough, with hair un- 

 derneath; the flower-stalks rise from the root; the stems diverg- 

 ing from one another at a common point, and bearing flowers 

 on their extremities ; they are as long as the leaves ; the corolla 

 is flat. This is the theme of the English poet ; it meets him on 

 every side, by the hedgebanks and in the woods of Great Britain. 

 It differs, in some particulars, from the P. Farinosa, the Bird's 

 Eye Primrose of the United States. The leaves and roots smell 

 like aniseed, and when dried form a most powerful sternutatory, 

 which is the only medical use the plant subserves. Phillips 

 says, that the Primrose always seeks the shade of hedgerows, the 

 banks of sheltered lanes, and the borders of woods and coppices, 

 and is but seldom found spangling the open meadow like its 

 relative, the Cowslip. From this we should learn to place it on 

 the banks of our wilderness wastes, and to scatter it thickly be- 

 neath the trees of the shrubbery. It will grow in almost any 

 soil, but thrives best in a clayey bank. When transplanted in the 

 spring, it receives a check to its flowering, which often causes it 

 to blossom freely in the autumn. A variety occurs with double 

 flowers of a lilac color, and it has been changed to a dingy red 

 by rich earth being accidentally scattered over it. It is the em- 

 blem of Early Youth, representing the age between child and 

 womanhood. 



Pale Primroses, 



That die unmarried, ere they can behold 

 Bright Phoebus in his strength. 



Winter Tale. 



