Is there any child who does not know the Primrose? In spring and early
summer you will find its yellow blossom starring the woods and
hedge-banks, and you will see it too by the seashore.
The flowers grow singly on fine stalks rising from the middle of the
root. A long yellow tube is hidden in the deep calyx-cup, and the mouth
of this tube opens out into five pale lemon-yellow petals. Each petal
has a notch in the outer edge, and there are two orange-coloured streaks
running from the base. In the centre of the petals, you can see the
mouth of the tube with the heads of the stamens in its throat. The
slender thread with its pinhead top, which rises from the seed-vessel,
can just be seen. Yet you will also find Primroses where the heads of
the stamens are hidden from sight, but where this seed-vessel thread
reaches beyond the mouth of the tube.
The calyx-cup is pale-green and hairy, and has fine, sharp teeth round
the edge.
The Primrose leaves grow in a rosette, rising with short, juicy stalks
from the root. They are covered with a fine network of veins, which are
much raised on the underside of the leaf. The leaf is crinkled all over.
Before the leaves are full grown, the edges are often rolled back so as
nearly to meet on the silvery underside.