220 rniMULACE^. 



Rocky places, rare. July, Aug. i?o©Marge, woody. Leaves 3 to 4 inches long, 

 and about % inch wide, numerous, crowded. &ape about 1 foot high, bearing & 

 singular •heath ut top. Flowers in heads, rose-colored, intermixed with scale*. 

 Tursh gives this as a native of this State, while Pro! Gray thinks it is not in- 

 Jiginous in the United States. 



Order G6. PRUMJLACEEJ .— Primrose Family. 



Herbaceous annual or perennial plants, with regular perfect flowers, the stamens 

 as many as the lobes of the monopetalous (rarely polypetalous) corolla and inserted op- 

 posite them on the tube. Calyx 4 to 5-cleft, persistent. Stamens 4 to 5, rarely 6 to 

 i. Style 1; stigma capitate; ovaky 1-celled. Capsule 1-celled, with a central 

 placentae. Seeds numerous. 



Tribe i. PRIMULEiE — The Primrose Tribe. 



Oapside entirely free from the calyx, opening hy valves. 



1. PRIMULA, Linn. Primrose. 



Lat. primus, first; on account of the early appea.rance of the flowers c: 



species. 



Calyx tubular, angled, 5-cleft! Corolla salver-shaped, 

 enlarging above the insertion of tha stamens, 5-lobed ; 

 lobes often notched or inversely heart-shaped. Stamens 

 5, included. Capsule many-seeded, splitting at the top 

 into 5 valves or 10 teeth. — Low perennial Jierbs, with the 

 veiny leaves in a tuft at the root, and mostly simple scapes 

 hearing the flowers in an umbel. 



CULTIVATED EXOTIC SPECIES, 



1. P. vulgaris, Huds. Common Primrose. 



Leaves obovate, oblong, toothed, rugose, villous beneath ; umbel radical : floieer 

 stalks as long as the leaves; corona flat. Native of Europe. A beautiful garden 

 plant, cultivated and highly esteemed for its early flowering, in the numerous va- 

 rieties there are some with red, pink, white, orange, and purple flowers, and in 

 some instances the umbels are on4i_seape. The roots and seeds smell of anise seed. 

 April. 



2. • P. yeris, Cam. Cowslip. 



Leaves toothed, rugose, hairy beneath ; umbels many-fiowered ; flowers all nod- 

 ding; corolla concave. Native of Britain. Flowers yellow. The plant smells 

 strongly of anise. Its varieties may be increased by raising from the seeds. 



3. P. elatior, Jacq. Oxlip Primrose. Polyanthus. 



Leaves toothed, rugose, hairy on each side ; umbel many-flowered, with the outer 

 flowers nodding ; corolla flat. Native of Britain. This is the Oxlip from which all 

 the varieties of polyanthuses have been grown. The flowers are on a scape from 3 

 to 9 inches high, varying from yellow to red, purple and white- . 



