Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/861

 PRIMROSE 83T to accept the popular classification. The com- mon or true primrose (P. veris, var. a, P. vul- garis, and P. acaulis of different authors) has wrinkled and toothed leaves, which are hairy Common Primrose (Primula veris). beneath ; the umhel is nearly sessile, the scape or common flower stalk being very short and concealed by the bases of the leaves, so that the flowers appear as if solitary on radical pedi- cels as long as the leaves ; the flower has a flat limb and is of a pale sulphur-yellow. This is the original of the cultivated polyanthus ; it is so abundant in pastures and hedge banks in England as to be regarded as a weed. The cowslip (P. veris, var. &, and P. officinalis) has Cowslip (Primula veris, var. b). leaves with winged petioles, not hairy but often with a pale down, the flowers in an umbel which is raised upon a stalk above the leaves ; flowers buff-yellow, varying in size, but smaller than in the primrose, and the limb concave or much cupped. It is found in similar situations with the preceding, and both ascend the moun- tains to the height of 1,600 ft. The flowers contain considerable honey, and are in some parts of England gathered in large quantities, when just opened, and fermented with water and sugar to make cowslip wine ; the root was formerly used as an astringent, and the leaves are employed as a salad and a pot herb. The oxlip (P. veris, var. c, and P. elatior) has similar foliage to that of the cowslip, and the umbels are also on distinct stalks; it is intermediate between that and the primrose, from which last it differs in having its umbel raised above the leaves, and from the cowslip it mainly differs in its broader and flatter flowers. The names of both cowslip and oxlip are of very uncertain origin. These three are frequently found grow- ing together with puzzling intermediate forms. Their flowers afford abundant examples of di- morphism ; i. e., in some the pistil reaches to the top of the tube of the corolla, the stigma showing like a globular knob at the throat, while the stamens, attached to the sides of the tube, are about half way down it; in other specimens the pistil is only half the length of the corolla, while the stamens are placed at its throat. This arrangement is one of the many to insure cross fertilization, as an insect visiting a long-styled flower in search of honey would have its proboscis dusted with pollen at a part which, when it visited a short-styled flower, would come just oppo- site the stigma, where some of the pollen would be deposited; and, vice versa, pollen from the short-styled flowers would be carried to fertilize those with long styles. Primroses, cowslips, and oxlips are much less frequently seen in our gardens than formerly, partly from their being displaced by more showy flowers, and partly from their uncertain hardiness. Though the natural color of the flowers is yel- low, there are varieties ranging from white to purple, and also some double ones. The poly- anthus, a variety of the primrose, ranks as a florist's flower ; its colors are clear yellow and brown, with the divisions between the colors well marked, and there are double forms; it is safer to protect polyanthuses in a cold frame, but they often succeed in the open ground. All the foregoing are raised from seed, sown in early spring; the plants, if kept growing all summer, will be large enough to flower the next spring; after the flowers fade the plants may be divided into as many pieces as there are buds or crowns to the root. The auricula, primula auricula, is another of those beautiful 4 old flowers now neglected and almost forgotten; it is a native of the mountains of southern Europe, and difficult to raise in this country on account of the great extremes of heat and cold. In the manufac- turing towns of England and Scotland the workmen cultivate it in great perfection, and have auricula shows at which the competition