PEIMULACEiE. 



539 



b. The Cowslip (P. veris, Eng. Bot. 

 t. 5), Fig. 643. Not hairy, but often 

 covered with a minute, pale down. 

 Flower- stalks rising above the leaves, 

 bearing an umbel of flowers. Calyx- 

 teeth usually broad and obtuse. Co- 

 rolla with a concave or cup-shaped limb, 

 very much smaller than in the Primrose, 

 but varying in size. — In rather dry 

 meadows and pastures, abundant over 

 nearly 'the whole of Europe and Rus- 

 sian Asia to the Caucasus and Altai, 

 and extending much further over south- 

 ern Europe than the other varieties. 

 Not however an Arctic plant, and, in 

 Britain, not so common in Scotland as 

 in England. 



c. The Oxlip (P. elatior, Eng. Bot. 

 t. 513), including all the intermediate 

 forms which have the limb of the corolla broader and natter than 

 in the Cowslip, but the flowers in an umbel raised above the ground, 

 and usually above the leaves, on a common peduncle. Calyx and 

 hairiness partaking sometimes of those of the Primrose, sometimes 

 of the Cowslip. — Usually in moister and more luxuriant meadows and 

 pastures than the Cowslip, in less shady situations than the Prim- 

 rose, but frequently intermixed with either or with both, and passing 

 gradually into one or the other. Geographical range nearly that of 

 the Coivslip, but much less abundant, except in some parts of central 

 Europe. 



Fig. 643. 



2. Mealy Primrose. Primula farinosa, Linn. (Fig. 644.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 6.) 



Stock tufted as in the last, but the leaves much smaller, often not an 

 inch long, glabrous above, and usually covered underneath with a white, 

 mealy, minute down, also observable on the peduncle and calyx, and 

 only disappearing on a few very luxuriant specimens grown in the shade. 

 Peduncle much larger than the leaves, with a compact umbel of small, 

 pale-lilac flowers, with a yellow eye ; the lobes of the corolla rather 

 narrow, and deeply notched. 



In mountain pastures, in all the great mountain-ranges of Europe 

 and Asia, penetrating far into the Arctic regions, and reappearing 

 in Antarctic America. Not uncommon in northern England, and, 



d 2 



