The Cowslip is the Queen of our meadow flowers. It is common in England
and Ireland, and in many parts of Scotland. The spring, or early summer,
is the best time to find it.
The flowers grow, a dozen or more together, in a loose cluster, at the
end of a stout, round stalk. Each flower has a yellow tube which is sunk
out of sight in a swollen calyx-cup. This cup is a beautiful light green
colour, with five sharp teeth at the mouth, and it is covered with soft
hairs. Sometimes you find it tinged with brown streaks.
Round the mouth of the yellow flower-tube stand five small
lemon-coloured petals, each with a V-shaped nick in the outer edge, and
a bright, reddish-orange spot at the base. If you look at the back of a
cowslip, you will see that the yellow tube is swollen just below the
petals.
There are five stamens, whose heads are just visible in the throat of
the tube, with the tip of the seed-vessel amongst them. In some flowers
this slender pillar comes a good way beyond the mouth of the tube, and
the stamens are hidden out of sight.
The Cowslip leaves are crinkled all over, and have swollen veins which
are much raised on the underside. In the young leaves the edges are
rolled very far back.