The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1888-01-22
Written for the Pnlafka Nems.
FLORIDA PLANTS.
BY DIR. A. .scHAFrRAsEK. rALArxA. ria.

Private treasure.
BY DIR. A. scHAFrRAsEK. rALArxA FLA
There Is another plant OF the genus
Viola and that Is the Pansy. In the sec
ton TO which il belongs the upper and
lateral petals are directed upward, and
only the lower one is directed downward,
and the stigma is capitate. A great
many varieties OF this lovely flower are
known, amongst them the common
pansy, the corrolla OF which does not
exceed the oalyx, and the garden pansy,
the petals of which extend far beyond il.
The size and color OF the garden pansies
have been greatly varied by cultivation.
The pansy has numerous names: pansy,
from the French word pensee- thought;
heartsease--love In idleness; viola--tri-
color. and others.
oh, Heartsease. Dost thou lie within that
flower.
How shall draw thee thences So much
| need
The healing aid OF thine enshrined power.
To vcii the past and bid the time good speed.
Probably many lovers of nature have
looked down upon this well known
flower with feelings and thoughts akin
to those of the poet and sighed, but in
vain, for the power Of extracting that
subtle essence which should bring hack
the peace of mind that has been 80 rudely
disturbed, by some of the inevitable ills
of human life. But il the plant cannot
| give peace it seems ever the emblem Of
content; it springs up and blossoms ON
| the driest burrows, robes with beauty tho
neglected corner and pathways of gar
dens and hedges, and seems ever to smile
with a modest and most engaging
beauty. The flower has always been
held in great favor for its simple, unpro-
tending beauty. IL is occasionally In It's
wild state stained with purple, but more
usually OF pale yellow color; the poetic
notion is that il was formerly clear
white and assumed its purple stain
from one of Cupid's bolts. Shakespeare
in his Midsummer Nights Dream !" al
ludes to ii thus:
| yet marked where the bolt OF Cupid fell;
| Ii fell upon little western flower.
Before milk white, now purple with Loves
| wound,
And maidens cali it Love In idlencss.'"
| Lindley remarks; Beautiful IN pansies
are to look at, they produce anything
rather than heart'sease IL you were 10 J.
eat them, for their roots have the prop
erty of producing sickness i'm so power
| full a manner that they are sometimes
used as emetics. The plant contains
acrid properties and the bruised leaves
| are used against cutaneous affections.
The herb has mild, sweetish mucilag-
inous taste and smells like the kernel Of
the peach sometimes like the flower OF
| the orange. The Towering herb is rec
ommend i'm cramps and epilepsy, and
should he used as powder, decoction and
| tea internally as well as externally and
| acts as a solvent diuretic aud diaphor-
etic remedy while the root IL used as an
emetic.
| PRIMULA vERIs-THE PRI MROsE,
is another chief ornament OF the early
spring and is always greeted with glad
thoughts. II is native OF Europe and
may be found very often i'm nearly every
garden OF the North, very seldom we
find it i'm the South, and yet il may be
raised very easily even in Palatka. The
seed If sown In the month of Juno la "a
shady situation commences TO eermin-
ate soon, the young plants need trans
| planting, shade and water during the
| summer months, rest i'm October and
November and transplanting again by
tine middle Of December and by the mid
die OF February its fresh green embossed
leaves and tufts of delicate flowers will
decorate your garden with beauty. BY
this simple treatment i saved from my
twenty-eight seedlings Of last year
twenty-four healthy strong plants. Cole
| ridge speaks OF the first primrose ''as
cleaning on the soul-lilxe..a ray OF sud
den gladness The reappearance Of the
flower in early spring often awakens
pleasant thoughts of the happy days Of
childhood when these early flowers
were priced as treasures indeed. The
CLEAN Of gladness that shot into the
heart Of the poet might have originated
from such remembrances, or.viewing the
flower as an emblem of the freshness and
beauty Of the returning spring. Car
rington thus gives utterance to this
pIeasurable sensation;
| 20 welcome spring.
| Who strays amid thy empire and feels not
| Divine sensationsf Feels not life renewed
At all its Thousand fouDfainsf Who can bathe
| His brow ia thy young brcezes and not bless
The new born impulse which gives wings 10
| thought
| And pulse To actionf'
Great is the number of species OF the
primrose, scattered over the world, great
the number of those cultivated In gar
dens, plants with flowers OF the most
beautiful shades and colors, even the
flowers Of the wild primrose commonly
called "cowslip" assumes In a peculiar
soil a chocolate color. The calyx OF the
primrose is monosepalous and forms
tube terminated at the summit by five
lobes. The corolla is monopetalous. five
stamens are inserted upon the tube OF
the corolia opposite the lobes. The pis-
til presents superior ovary, surmounted
by more or less elongated style. The
ovary is unilocularand has In it's interior
large free central placenta, IL In filled
with great number OF ovules. The
fruit lis a capsule, with five valves. open
ing at the summit, through which the
seeds, which are supplied with heshy
albumen ehveloping a straight embryo,
are suffered to escape. II is a curious
fact that nearly every animal rejects the
plant as food. The root mas a power
full scent OF anis, and the flowers contain
sedative properties. When fermented