THE AMERICAN COWSLIP. 
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THE AMERICAN COWSLIP. 
The American, or, as it is sometimes called, 
the Virginian Cowslip (Dodecatheon Meadid), 
is a hardy spring flowering perennial, in 
which character alone it claims attention, 
spring flowers being always welcomed. It, 
however, deserves consideration also for its 
intrinsic beauty, and is, besides, a very eligi- 
ble plant to reward the attention of the floi'ist; 
that is, it might be altered and varied by 
hybi'idizing, as other floi'ist's flowers have been. 
It is a perennial plant ; in winter, circum- 
scribed within the hybernacula or store-bud, 
formed just below the surface of the soil, and 
in early spring pushing out a tuft of broadly 
and largish lance -shaped leaves, which are 
coarsely saw edged ; from among these leaves 
arises the upright flower stem, growing from 
eight to twelve inches high, and bear- 
ing at top an umbel of gracefully pendent 
flowers, usually twelve together ; the petals 
of the flower are of a rosy lilac colour, reflexed 
or turned back over the calyx, giving the ap- 
pearance of a half-expanded parasol, which 
resemblance is considerably heightened by 
the long tapering shape of the parts of fructifi- 
cation. The pollen grains of this flower, when 
examined with the assistance of a compound 
microscope, are seen to be peculiarly beauti- 
ful ; they are distinctly organized minute 
pearls, so minute that one square inch will 
contain of them upwards of three millions; 
and as squares cannot be covered by circles, 
more than one-fifth of the space will still be 
left unoccupied. The plant flowers at the 
end of April and beginning of May. It grows 
in several parts of North America, and was 
first sent from Virginia by Banister, to Bishop 
Compton, in 1704, after which the plant was 
lost for several yeai's in England, till it was 
again obtained from America by Mr. Catesby, 
about 1744. 
The culture of this plant is of the simplest 
