The leaves form a radical rosette as in Primula (primrose, cowslip, &c.), or there is a well-developed aerial stem which is erect, as in species of Lysimachia, or creeping, as in Lysimachia Nummularia (creeping jenny or money-wort).
There are con siderable irregularities, how ever, in this respect, and the number of leaves in different whorls is not always uniform, as may be seen in Lysimachia
The leaves are generally simple, often with a toothed margin; their arrangement is alternate, opposite or whorled, all three forms occurring in one and the same genus Lysimachia.
The flowers are solitary in the leaf-axils as in pimpernel, money-wort, &c., or umbelled as in primrose, where the umbel is sessile, and cowslip, where it is stalked, or in racemes or spikes as in species of Lysimachia.
Lysimachus was killed; after some days his body, watched by a faithful dog, was found on the field, and given up to his son Alexander, by whom it was interred at Lysimachia.