PRIMROSE, Primula, a genus of plants of the natural order primulacem, having, a bell shaped or tubular 5-toothed calyx, a salver-shaped corolla with five segments, five stameas, a globose germen containing many ovules, and a many-seeded capsule opening by five valves, and generally with ten teeth at the apex. The species are all herbaceous perennials, generally having only radical leaves: and the flowers in a simple umbel. more rarely with scapes bearing solitary flowers. Almost all of them are natives of Europe and the n. of Asia. Some of them are among the finest ornaments of our groves and meadows; some are found in mountainous regions. Their fine colors and soft, delicate beauty have led to the cultivation of some a them as garden flowers, probably from tire very beginning of floriculture. The name primrose (Fr. primerere, Lat. primula) is derived from the Latin primes, first, and refers to the early appearance of the flowers of some of the most common species in sprin&.—The COMMON PRIMROSE (P. wulgaris), abundant in woods, hedgebanks, and pastures in Britain and in most parts of Europe, has obovate-oblong, wrinkled leaves, and single-flowered scapes; the flowers about an inch broad, yellowish-white. This is the plant to which the English name
primrose specially belongs. Akin to it is the cowslip (q.v.), or PAIGLE (P. veris), and perhaps still more nearly related is the OXLIP (P. elatior), apparently wild in some parts of England. particularly in the eastern counties; but supposed by some botanists to be intermediate between the common primrose and the cowslip, which they therefore regard as extreme forms of one species.—The polyanthus (q.v.) is a cultivated variety of the cowslip.—The auricula (q.v.) (P. aurieuk), an Alpine species, is a favorite garden flower.—The Br RD'S-EYE PRIMROSE (P. larinOlal) and the SCOTTISH PRIMROSE (P. St...Wen) arc both flowers of exquisite beauty, found in the northern parts of Britain; the latter chiefly on the coasts of Sutherland, Caithness, and the Orkney islands. The Alps and the Himalaya mountains produce several species. The CHINESE PHDIROSE (P. &Mena's) has for more than 40 years been very common in Britain, not only as a green. house hut a window plant. It produces compound umbels of very numerous lilac or white flowers, which are displayed in autumn, winter, and spring.