PRIMULACEAE 
123 
11 to 17 dm. high; leaves leathery, oblong-ovate, serrate, short-petioled, 
h2 to 3 cm. long; corolla pink; berry dark purple, without bloom.— 
North hill slopes near the coast. 
PRIMULACEAE. PRIMROSE FAMILY 
Low herbs with simple entire leaves and regular and symmetrical 
flowers. Sepals, petals and stamens commonly 5 (4 to 8). Stamens op¬ 
posite the lobes of the corolla and inserted on its tube or base. Ovary 
commonly superior, 1-celled, with a single style and stigma. Fruit a 
capsule.—Species about 320, of wide distribution, but most abundant in 
the north temperate zone. 
Corolla with rotate lobes; stamens distinct. 
Stem commonly branching; leaves opposite or ternate.1. Anagallis. 
Stem simple with a whorl of large leaves at summit. 2. Trientalis. 
Corolla with reflexed lobes ; leaves all basal; stamens with filaments united at base.. 
3. Dodecatheon. 
1. ANAGALLIS L. Pimpernel 
Annual. Leaves opposite or sometimes in 3s. Flowers axillary and 
solitary, on slender pedicels. Calyx 5-cleft. Corolla rotate, deeply 
5-parted into rounded lobes. Stamens 5. Filaments hairy. Pod open¬ 
ing by a lid. (Greek anagallis, delightful.) 
1. A. arvensis L. Poor Man’s Weather Glass. Leaves triangular- 
ovate, acute, sessile, about 8 mm. long; shorter than the pedicels; corolla 
vermilion, 8 to 10 mm. broad; pods on recurved pedicels.—Waste places 
about towns; nat. from Eur. The flowers open only in sunshine. 
2. TRIENTALIS L. 
Stem simple, from tuberous rootstocks, bearing scales or small leaves 
below and a whorl of large leaves above, from the center of which the 
filiform peduncles arise. Parts of the. flower in 6s, sometimes 5s or 7s. 
Corolla rotate, deeply parted. F'ilaments long, united at base into a 
short ring. Valves of the pod 5. (Latin trientalis, containing one-third 
of a foot, in allusion to the height of the plants.) 
1. T. europaea L. var. latifolia Torr. Star-flower. Stem 9.6 to 14.4 
cm. high; leaves of the whorl 5 or 6, broadly obovate, abruptly acute, 
2.4 to 4.8 cm. long; corolla red or white, about 8 mm. broad, its divisions 
abruptly acute and prolonged into a slender point.—Coast Range woods. 
3. DODECATHEON L. 
Glabrous herbs with basal leaves and a naked stem bearing an umbel 
of several flowers. Calyx 5-cleft. Corolla commonly 5-parted, with very 
short tube, the narrow divisions reflexed. Stamens 5. Filaments short 
and flat, united at least below. Fruit a pod surrounded by the now erect 
calyx, opening by a lid. (Greek dodeka, 12, and theos, god, the prim¬ 
rose being under the care of the deities.) 
Root-crown with rice-grain bulblets; herbage glabrous, the summit of the scape 
and the pedicels rarely microscopically glandular.1. D. hendersoni. 
Root-crown without rice-grain bulblets, at least before flowering. 
Herbage glabrous; anthers 2 mm. long, the connectives delicately rugulose. 
2. D. patulum. 
Scapes and pedicels minutely glandular; anthers 4 mm. long, the connectives 
strongly rugose....3. D. clevelandi. 
