PRIMULACE.E 431 



stronger nerves or angles ; the lobes blunt or cuspidate. Along the coast, 

 California to the Arctic regions and the Atlantic coast. Europe and Asia. 



Order LVIII PRIMULACEjE Vent. Tabl. ii, 285. 



Herbs with simple leaves and symmetrical flowers. Calyx 4- 

 8-lobecl or 4-8-parted, free, or rarely adnate to the base of the 

 ovary, imbricated in the bud, usually persistent, Corolla 

 hypogynous, except in Samolus in which it coheres below with 

 the base of the ovary, 4-8-lobed or 4-8-parted, rarely none. 

 Stamens as many as the lobes of the corolla and opposite to 

 them, inserted on the tube or base of the corolla, rarely peri- 

 gynous: anthers introrse. Ovary one-celled, with a free central 

 placenta. Fruit capsular. Seeds with small straight embryo 

 and copious albumen. 



Tribe i. Ovary wholly free: ovules amphitropous or half- 

 anatropous. 



* Scapose or tufted : flowers chiefly 5-merons, umbellate or solitary : 

 capsule dehiscent by valves, at least at the apex. 



+- Stamens connivent in a cone around the pistil, monadelphous. 



1 Dodecatheon Corolla 5-parted, its division reflexed : filaments shorter 



than the anthers. 



•*- •*- Corolla salverform or funnelform : stamens distinct, included, 

 with short filaments and short and blunt anthers. 



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



and spreading, mostly obcordate or emarginate lobes : capsule many- 

 seeded. 



3 Donglasia Corolla with tube equalling or surpassing the calyx, and 



entire lobes: ovary 5-ovuled: capsule 1-3-seeded. 



4 Audrosace Corolla short, its tube shorter than the calyx : ovules and 



seeds numerous or few. 



* * Leafy stemmed : corolla rotate or somewhat so and the division s 

 convolute or sometimes involute in the bud, wanting in Glaux. 



.+- Capsules mostly globose, dehiscent vertically by valves, or 

 irregularly. 



5 Trientalis Leaves clustered at the summit of a simple stem : flowers 



mostly 7-merous : corolla completely rotate, without a tube, deeply 

 parted : filaments long and filiform, united at base into a ring. 



6 Steironema Leaves opposite, without dots : flowers 5 merous on slen- 



der drooping peduncles: corolla rotate, with no proper tube, deeply 

 parted ; the divisions each wrapped arouivi a stamen. 



7 Naumlmrgia Stems leafy throughout, the herbage glandular-dotted : 



flowers 5-7-merous, on stout axillary peduncles: corolla without prop- 

 er tube, the lobes not wrapped around the stamens. 



8 Glaux Stems leafy throughout: flowers solitary in the axils of the op- 



posite leaves, 5-merous ; corolla none : stamens inserted on the base of 

 the calyx. 



*- +■ Capsule globose, the top falling off as a lid : seeds numerous. 



