FROM THE SOCIETY'S GARDEN. 147 



21. Primula involucrata. Wallich Cat.^ No. 7107. I)e 

 Cand. prodr. 8, 42. 



Seeds of this were sent from the North of India by Captain 

 William Munro, in April, 1845, under the name of 

 Primula spathulata of Royle ; but it is certainly iden- 

 tical with Dr. Wallich's Primula involucrata. 



When at rest this plant forms a large egg-shaped bud, which 

 may almost be called a bulb. Early in the spring it throws up 

 a tuft of smooth shining leaves, the colour and texture of Pile- 

 wort, which are immediately succeeded by a scape from 6 to 9 

 inches high, terminated by three or four white sweet-scented 

 flowers, which are at first slightly yellow, and when dying ac- 

 quire a tinge of blush. In form, the leaves are long-stalked, 

 ovate, obtuse, wavy, and slightly toothed. The involucre is 

 remarkable for having its base extended downwards into a sheath, 

 in the same manner as in Thrift. The corolla is about the size 

 of a cowslip, with a flat border, whose segments are round and 

 two-lobed, and a pink tube which is a little longer tlian the 

 angular calyx. 



It is a hardy perennial, growing about 6 inches high, in a soil 

 composed of sandy-loam and leaf-mould. It will flower in the 

 open border about March, but earlier if kept in a cool green- 

 house or frame. It is stated by Capt. Munro that he collected it 

 at an elevation of 1 1 ,500 feet, growing in the neighbourhood of 

 water. 



It will be a most desirable little plant fur rockwork not too 

 much exposed to a hot sun. 



Feb. 24, 1846. 



22. Daphne Fortuni.* 



A dwarf shrub, with lilac flowers, from the Chusan hills, 

 Ningpo and Shanghai ; received from Mr. R. Fortune, 

 July 26th, 1844, who states that it is used by the 

 Chinese in the same manner as the Mezereum in 

 Europe. 



This is a small downy-branched bush, with thin deciduous op- 

 posite and alternate ovate-oblong and oblong leaves covered 

 with very soft fine hairs. The flowers, which appeared for the 

 first time in January, 1846, are pale- bluish lilac, arranged in 



* D. Fortuni ; foliis ovato-oblongis oblongisque hysteranthiis utrinque ad- 

 presse sericeis, floribus quaternis exinvolucratis extus sericeo-villosis, calycis 

 limbo 4-lobo laciniis oblongis obtusis interioribus augustioribus. — J. L. 



L 2 



