Order Cxix
PRIMULACEÆ.
Beautiful dwarf herbs, inhabiting the mountains and meadows of all parts of the world, but especially in the northern hemisphere. Nothing can be more lovely than the little delicate alpine Prímulas, Androsáces, Arêtias, and Soldanéllas, with their little modest blossoms, sometimes rivalling the whiteness of the surrounding snow, sometimes emulating the intense blue of the empyrean, as if the one had borrowed its hues from heaven, and the other from the spotless mantle of the earth. Hottónia is a naiad of the stream, inhabiting several parts of England, in ponds and ditches, which are enlivened for many a month with its rosy flowers, peeping from among the sedge and under grass, by which it is environed. All the genera are familiar to gardeners, except Centúnculus and Schwenckia, of which the former is singular in the order, as being an obscure minute weed, and the latter has inelegant green flowers, curious to the botanist but ungrateful to the florist. The prominent botanical character is the one-celled fruit, with a central placenta, and the stamens opposite the petals. The properties of Primulaceæ are feeble and of little consequence; they appear to be slightly astringent and bitter; the root of Cyclamen is acrid, and only eaten by wild boars; the flowers of the primrose and cowslip are fragrant, and mildly sudorific and soporific. Cortúsa Mathíola has been used in nervous disorders. 350 Prímula W. 349 Androsáce W. 348 Arétia W. 351 Cortùsa W. 352 Soldanélla W. 353 Dodecatheon W. 354 Cýclamen W. 355 Hottónia W.
ORDER CXX. 356 Lysimachia W. 392 Lubínia Comm. 357 Anagállis W. 360 Córis W.