PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Primula. 289 
{Hook. FI. Lond. — E. Bot. 513. E .)—Kniph. l—Fl. Dan. 43 k—Fuchs. 851 
— J. B. iii. 496. 2 —Clus. 301. 2—Bod. 147. 1— Lob. Obs. 305. 3 -Ger. 
Em. 780. 2— Ger. 635. 1— Col. Phytob. 6. 2. 
Blossoms (all umbellate, E.) pale yellow ; diameter of the border more than 
the length of the tube. Leaf-stalks shorter than the leaves. Leaves nar¬ 
rowing about the middle. Scapes few, erect, three to six inches high. E. 
Oxlip. Great Cowslip. Oxlip Primrose. (Welsh: Briallu Mair 
disaur. E.) Primula. Hall. n. 609. P. veris elatior. Linn. P. vulgaris /3. 
Huds. Ed. II. P. veris ft. Ed. I. Woods, hedges, and clayey pastures, 
rare. (Barren Wood, near Armathwaite and Dalemain Woods, Cumber¬ 
land. Hutchinson. In the wood near Tyfry, Anglesey. Welsh Bot. 
Sea coast between Queensferry and Inverkeithing; woods about Starley 
Burn near Burntisland, abundant. Maughan, in Grev. Edin. E.) High 
pastures, near Little Wenlock, Shropshire. F. April—May.* 
Many Botanists have considered the Oxlip to be a hybrid production 
between the Common Primrose and the Cowslip, or that, if a variety, it 
rather belongs to the former than the latter. (Mr. Turner says he has 
specimens in which both the Primrose and Oxlip are produced from the 
same root. For some interesting experiments by the Hon. W. Herbert, 
tending to establish the identity of these three species, (an opinion not 
altogether wanting the sanction of other authority,) vid. Tr. Hort. Soc. E.) 
P. officina'lis. Leaves wrinkled and toothed: stalk many-flowered: 
all the flowers drooping: border of the blossom concave. 
{E. Bot. 5. E.)— Kniph. 3— Ludw. 43— FI. Dan. 433— Blackw. 226— Wale, 
— Curt. 67— Fuchs. 850— Clus. i. 301. 1— Lob. Obs. 305. 1— Ger. Em. 
780. 1— Trag. 201— Ger. 635. 2. 
{Leaves all radical, contracted about the middle. Calyx downy. Scape 
three to six inches high. E.) Leaf-stalk often longer than the leaves, 
which is not the case in the Primrose or Oxlip. Blossom small, sweet- 
scented, full yellow, with an orange stain at the base of each segment; 
contracted about the middle of the tube, where the stamens are inserted. 
(Var. 2. Blossoms bordered with scarlet: first approach to the Polyanthus. 
Near Brunton Mill, Northumberland. Mr. Winch. E.) 
Common Cowslip. Paigle. (Welsh: Briallu Mair sawyrus ; Dagrau 
Mair. E.) P. veris officinalis. Linn. P. veris. Huds. Sm. Hook. 
Meadows and pastures in loamy or clayey soil (often entirely covered 
* (The Polyanthus is believed to originate both from the Primrose and Oxlip, but princi¬ 
pally from the latter. The double and single varieties of this family of plants produced by 
culture appear to be almost endless. Florists prefer the rose-eyed Polyanthus , or that 
wherein the anthers appear at the top of the tube of the blossom ; to the pin-eyed, wherein 
the stigma of the pistil is most obvious; (a difference of conformation also occurring in 
wild specimens); but to an impartial observer, the real beauty of the flower is far from being 
thus circumscribed. These plants are often exhausted by the minute red spider (. Acarus ), 
which rapidly increases on the under surface of the leaves, and is only to be destroyed by 
transplanting and the application of tobacco-water. The favourite tribe of 
-“ Auricidas enrich’d 
With shining meal o’er all their velvet leaves,” 
(derived from Primula Auricula, a native of the Swiss mountains), is said to be rendered 
of surpassing size and beauty by the application of pieces of raw meat near the roots; and, if 
this be the fact, the same practice might probably be advantageously adapted for enriching 
the Polyanthus , or even moistening the roots with the sanguineous fluid itself, might 
probably produce the desired effect. E.) 
