232 



PRIMULACEiE. (PRIMROSE FAMILY.) 



Order 46. PRIUIUL.ACE3E. (Primrose Family.) 



Herbs with simple leaves and regular perfect flowers, the stamens as 

 many as the lobes of the gamopetaluus corolla and inserted opposite 

 them, a one-celled ovary with a free central placenta rising from the 

 base, bearing several or many seeds. Style and stigma one. 



# Ovary wholly free. 

 *■ With scapes or tufted : flowers chiefly 5-merous, umbellate or solitary : capsule dehiscent 

 by valves : lobes of the corolla imbricated in the bud. 



++ Stamens exserted, conniveut in a cone, monadelphous. 



1. Dodecatheon. Corolla 5-parted, with very short tube and dilated thickened throat, 



the long and narrow divisions reflexed. Stamens inserted on the throat of the corolla -• 

 anthers lanceolate or linear. 



++ ++ Stamens included, distinct, with short filaments and short blunt anthers : corolla 

 salverform or funnelfornu 



2. Primula. Corolla with tube surpassing or at least equalling the calyx, and spreading 



mostly obcordate or emarginate lobes. Capsule many-seeded. Leaves all radical. 



3. Douglasia. Corolla with tube equalling or surpassing the calyx, somewhat inflated 



above ; lobes entire. Ovary 5-ovuled Capsule 1 or 2-seeded. Leaves imbricated or 

 crowded on tufted stems. 



4. Androsace. Corolla with tube shorter than the calyx ; the throat constricted. Ovules 



and seeds numerous or few. Flowers smalL 

 «- ■*- Leafy-stemmed : corolla (wanting in Glaux) rotate or somewhat so, and the divisions 



convolute or sometimes involute in the bud : leaves entire. 

 ** Capsule dehiscent vertically by valves or irregularly, mostly globose : flowers 5-merous. 



5. Steironema. Corolla rotate, with no proper tube, deeply parted the divisions ovate, 



cuspidate-pointed, erose-denticulate above, each separately involute or convolute 

 around its stamen. Filaments distinct or nearly so on the ring at the base of the 

 corolla : anthers linear and arcuate in age : sterile filaments 5, interposed between the 

 fertile ones. Capsule 10 to 20-seeded. Flowers nodding on slender peduncles. Leaves 

 opposite, without dots. 



6. Glaux. Corolla none. Calyx with 5 petaloid lobes. Stamens on the base of the calyx, 



alternate with its lobes : filaments slender : anthers cordate-ovate. Capsule 5-valved 

 at apex, few-seeded. Leafy throughout : leaves mainly opposite. Flowers solitary, 

 axillary, nearly sessile. 



++ ++ Capsule circumscissile, globose : seeds numerous. 



7. Centunculus. Corolla with a globular tube and a 4 to 5-lobed limb, shorter than the 



calyx ; lobes acute. Stamens on the tube of the corolla: filaments short and subu- 

 late : anthers ovate or cordate. 



* * Ovary connate at base with the calyx. 



8. Samolus. Flowers 5-merous- Corolla perigynous. nearly campanulate. Fertile sta- 



mens 5, on the tube of the corolla, with short filaments and cordate anthers. Sterile 

 filaments 5 in the sinuses of the corolla. Capsule ovate or globular, 5-valved at the 

 apex, many-seeded. Caulescent, alternate-leaved, with racemose flowera. 



1. DODECATHEON, L. Shootixg-Star. 

 Cowslip. 



American 



Flowers few or numerous in an umbel terminating a naked scape : corolla 

 from pink-purpie to white. Calyx erect in fruit, enclosing the lower part of 

 the capsule. 



