Cowslip

“ 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. [Pg 39]
3. ”

“ Below, in the first shadows, drooped hosts of little white flowers, so silent and sad; it seemed like a holy communion of pure wild things, numberless, frail, and folded meekly in the evening light. Other flower companies are glad; stately barbaric hordes of bluebells, merry-headed cowslip groups, even light, tossing wood-anemones; but snowdrops are sad and mysterious. ”

“ The COWSLIP is a plant (Primula veris) which grows in most meadows and pastures, and is too well known to require any description.
The flowers of the cowslip, when picked and dried, are sometimes used as a balsamic tea. When boiled, with a certain proportion of water and sugar, and afterwards properly fermented, they may be made into a peculiarly pleasant wine.
The roots have a fine odour; and, when immersed in ale or beer, are said to add considerably to the strength of the liquor. The leaves are sometimes eaten as a pot-herb, and in salads ”

“ Botanically, the Cowslip is a very interesting plant. In all essential points the Primrose, Cowslip, and Oxlip are identical; the Primrose, however, choosing woods and copses and the shelter of the hedgerows, the Cowslip choosing the open meadows, while the Oxlip is found in either. The garden "Polyanthus of unnumbered dyes" (Thomson's "Seasons:" Spring) is only another form produced by [67] cultivation, and is one of the most favourite plants in cottage gardens. It may, however, well be grown in gardens of more pretension ”

“ My paper to-morrow at the Linnean Society is simply to prove, alas! that primrose and cowslip are as good species as any in the world, and that there is no trustworthy evidence of one producing the other. The only interesting point is the frequency of the production of natural hybrids, i.e. oxlips, and the existence of one kind of oxlip which constitutes a third good and distinct species. ”

“ Watson gives the cowslip (Primula veris) as found in all the 'provinces' into which he divides Great Britain, as far north as Caithness and Shetland, where we know that the nightingale does not occur." A correspondent of Notes and Queries (5th Ser. ix. 492) says that in East Sussex, on the borders of Kent, "the cowslip is quite unknown, but nightingales are as common as blackberries there."
A similar idea exists in connection with hops; and, according to a tradition current in Yorkshire, the nightingale made its first appearance in the neighbourhood of Doncaster when hops were planted. ”

“ The cowslip bed is very pretty. Here are yellow, orange, copper-coloured and mahogany brown cowslips; pale-coloured oxlips, and polyanthuses in as many shades as the wallflowers, [84] from rosy red to dark purple-brown with every petal edged with bright yellow as though they had been buttonholed round.
There is no need to cultivate primroses in the garden beds, for the two orchards are thick with them; where there are also large patches of wild snowdrops with crowds of wild daffodils, and dancing wind-flowers—or wood anemones ”

“ The wild plant, with its modest flower of pale yellow hue (which has given rise to the name of a tint known as primrose yellow) , is probably familiar to every one, but it may not be so well known that the gay polyanthus of our florists, and the rich double-flowered primroses of every hue which decorate our gardens, all owe their existence to the wild plant as their original stock. The cowslip, although local in its geographical distribution, is abundant in many localities, and is associated right pleasantly with cowslip wine. ”

“ In some places it is known as ‘the poor man’s weather-glass.’
In the same district, that fine sour relish of{312} our childhood, ‘Sorrel,’ is simply ‘Sour-dock;’ and the early Purple Orchis (O. mascula) , with its dark-green leaves plashed with brown, and spikes of richly coloured flowers springing up in cowslip-covered meadows, is hailed as ‘King’s Fingers.’
The cowslip has in Shropshire the common name of ‘Paigle,’ a name the derivation of which no one appears to understand; but its old Kentish name of ‘Culver-keys’ is unknown. ”

“ The great cowslips with deep yellow and marked spots grow by themselves in bunches in corners or on the banks of brooks. Here a man might have mown acres of cowslips, pale but sweet. Out of their cups the bees hummed as she walked amongst them, a closed, book in her hand, dreaming. She generally returned with Luke's spaniel beside her, for whether his master came or not the knowing dog rarely missed his visit, aware that there was always something good for him.
One morning she went dreaming on like this through the cowslips, past the old beech and the gate, and along by the nut-tree hedge. ”

“ The flowers are considerably over 1in. long; they are numerously produced on long drooping pedicels, of irregular lengths; the tallest scape of the specimen illustrated is 18in. high, but under more favourable conditions this Cowslip has been said to reach a height of 3ft. The leaves are 6in. to 12in. long, wrinkled, unevenly dentate, oblong and blunt; during the time of seeding the leaves increase in length, some becoming spathulate, or broadly stalked; it ripens seed plentifully, from which seedlings come true. ”

“ Kind Miss Millet and Alie had dressed it up with cowslips after Biddy had gone to bed the night before, for there were cowslips, and very pretty ones, to be had in some woods a mile or two inland from Seacove. And May birthdays always make one think of cowslips. ”

“ Alfred Wallace, seeing them, for the first time, in the vicinity of Cincinnati, writes in the Fortnightly Review: “In a damp river-bottom, the exquisite blue Mertensia Virginica was found. It is called here the ‘Virginian cowslip,’ its drooping porcelain-blue bells being somewhat of the size and form of those of the true cowslip.”
Blue-eyed Mary. Innocence.
Collinsia verna. Figwort Family. Six to twenty inches high. Stems.—Branching, slender. ”

“ At every step he takes some sweet or gently harmonious sight or sound steals away a parcel of that ugly ache, and gives him an atom of pure joy instead. Now it is a stray wood-pigeon beginning its day-long sweethearting in the copse. Now it is a merry din of quiring finches, all talking [Pg 295] together. Now it is a glimpse of a sprinkle of cowslips in an old pasture, shaking off their drowsiness. ”

“ The double Paigle or Cowslip hath smaller and darker greene leaues then the single kinde hath, and longer stalkes also whereon the leaues doe stand: it beareth diuers flowers vpon a stalke, but not so many as the single kinde, euery one whereof is of a deeper and fairer yellow colour then any of the former, standing not much aboue the brimmes of the huskes that hold them, consisting of two or three rowes of leaues set round together, which maketh it shew very thicke and double, of a prettie small sent, but not heady. ”

“ As we go through the fields we keep a good look out for primroses and cowslips. The primroses come long before the cowslips. Cowslips really belong to the beginning of the Summer. But early in the Spring there are plenty of woods and banks we know, where we are sure of finding primroses with their narrow, furry, green leaves, and the pale yellow flowers on a long stalk sprouting out of the heart of the leaves. ”

“ Parkinson writes:
"We have so great variety of Primroses and Cowslips in our country breeding that strangers, being much delighted with them, have often furnished into divers countries to their good content.
"All Primroses bear their long and large, broad yellowish-green leaves without stalks most usually, and all the Cowslips have small stalks under the leaves, which are smaller and of a darker green. The name of Primula veris, or Primrose, is indifferently conferred on those that I distinguish for Paralyses, or Cowslips. ”

“ We may also quote the following note from Yarrell's "British Birds" (4th ed., i. 316) :—"Walcott, in his 'Synopsis of British Birds' (vol. ii. 228) , says that the nightingale has been observed to be met with only where the cowslip grows kindly, and the assertion receives a partial approval from Montagu; but whether the statement be true or false, its converse certainly cannot be maintained, for Mr. ”

“ Yet soon fair Spring shall give another scene,
And yellow cowslips gild the level green; ”

“ The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours. ”

“ The hawthorn trees blow in the dew of the morning,
And wild scatter’d cowslips bedeck the green dale:
But what can give pleasure, or what can seem fair,
While the lingering moments are number’d by care? ”

“ Before the quillpig could right himself, the fisher had torn open his unguarded belly, and proceeded to eat the quivering, flabby meat as if from the shell of an oyster, or to be more accurate, a sea urchin. Throughout these proceedings he disregarded the quills entirely. Many of them pierced his skin. Others were swallowed along with the mouthfuls of warm flesh, which he tore out and greedily devoured. ”

“ It came nearer and became plainer—tonk-tonk-tonk; then the tonks all running together briskly.
A cowbell—that was it; but why did it seem to come from overhead, from up in the sky, like? And why did it shift so abruptly from one quarter to another—from left to right and back again to left? And how was it that the clapper seemed to strike so fast? Not even the breachiest of breachy young heifers could be expected to tinkle a cowbell with such briskness. The squire's eye searched the earth and the sky, his troubled mind giving to his eye a quick and flashing scrutiny. ”

“ If you'll sit in the car, I'll put your shoes up by the engine. It's pretty well heated from racing it in the mud. You can get your stockings dry under the cowl. She was amused by the elaborateness with which he didn't glance at her while she took off her low shoes and slipped her quite too thin black stockings under the protecting tin cowl. She reflected, "He has such a nice, awkward gentleness. But such bad taste! They're really quite good ankles. Apparently ankles are not done, in Teal bug circles. His sisters don't even have limbs. But do fairies have sisters? He is a fairy. ”

“ If I’d had the brains of a rabbit I’d’ve stopped Jasp Swope last Spring––then I wouldn’t 396 need to be cuttin’ brush here all Summer like a Mexican wood-chopper. That’s where we fell down––lettin’ them sheep in––and now we’ve got to sweat for it. But lemme tell you, boy,” he cried, raising a mighty fist, “if I can keep jest one cow alive until Fall I’m goin’ to meet Mr. Swope on the edge of my range and shoot ’im full of holes! Nothin’ else will do, somebody has got to be killed before this monkey business will stop! ”

“ Their nests vary from the elaborate purse-shaped structures of the oropendola and orioles to the dome-shaped nest on the ground of the meadow lark, the simple cup of the bobolink and redwing; the cowbird makes none. The cowbird lays its eggs in the nests of a wide variety of other species to be cared for by them. Here those who discuss the relative importance of heredity versus environment can profit by - 93 - considering these social parasites. The young cowbird, hatched and brought up by, say, a yellow warbler, remains a cowbird. ”

“ The cowbirds, male and female, are all free lovers. There is no mating among them. The female lays her eggs in some other bird’s nest, like the English cuckoo, as if she were too busy with the duties and pleasures of society to care for her own children.
A diskcissel sits on a tree instead of a reed or a bush as usual and sings “See, see, Dick Cissel, Cissel.” Chewinks are down scratching among the dry leaves with the white-throated sparrows, their strong-muscled legs sending the leaves flying as if a barnyard hen were doing the scratching. A beautiful hermit thrush is near but he is silent. ”

“ Sometimes you may catch her carrying weeds, strips of bark, broad grasses, tendrils, reeds, and leaves for the outside of her deep cradle, and finer grasses for its lining, to a spot on the ground where plants and low bushes help conceal it. She does not build so beautiful a nest as the yellow warbler, but like her she, too, poor thing, sometimes suffers from the sneaking visits of the cowbird. Unhappily, she is not so clever as her cousin, for she meekly consents to hatch out the cowbird's egg and let the big, greedy interloper crowd and worry and starve her own brood. ”

“ As my study is built out to the back of this house, it is parallel with your property at 15, Poynings Road. I am within fifty yards of the offending cowl. The noise it makes rises and falls in shrillness according to the speed at which the cowl revolves under the pressure of the wind. We are not disturbed at all by any cowl on Hathaway Mansions, but by this one of yours, about which I wrote you first so long ago as January 3. ”

“ Meanwhile Ralph and his brother had tried the qualities of his new hawk.
"Thou well knowest, brother Ralph," said Jasper to him, as they rode along on their small ponies towards Chute Forest, "my peregrine will fly faster than thy gerfalcon."
"Marry, will it? that we shall see, I trow. See there's a bird yonder; 'tis a heron, now fly our birds at her."
No sooner said than done; off went the jesses, away went the hoods, and with a swing of the arm and wrist, the noble birds were cast off the fist. Up they sprang high in air. The gerfalcon mounted quicker, but the peregrine went straighter. ”