1 82 THE NEW FLORA AND SILVA 



rooting from the horizontal branches or shoots that hug the 

 ground. P. sujfrutescens almost comes in here as it will grow 

 from branches that touch the soil as well as by pieces of 

 stem. 



Primula Forrestii, with its unique capability of growing 

 by continual elongation of a single woody stem which is 

 encased in the remains of many previous years' foliage, is of 

 a type apart, but it is conceivable that were such a long 

 stem to find itself in conditions where warm moist air 

 caressed its lengthened axis, this would produce roots. 



Of quite a different nature are those species which make 

 a cluster of resting buds, often thickly dusted with meal, in 

 the late autumn, and this most promising group for the 

 garden includes the Petiolares, such as P. Wtnteri and P. 

 sonchifolia, and the Nivalids, such as P. macrophylla, P. sino- 

 plantagtnea^ P. obliqua with the promised glories of P. 

 aemu/a, P. muliensis^ P. Agleniana and P. pulchella. 



Some of the Primulas of the type that in the autumn lay 

 down fat buds in the axes of the leaves of the main rosette, 

 such as P. sonchijolia^ are seen to have these buds attached 

 to the leaf in whose axis they have developed while roots 

 emerge from the bud through the sheathing leaf base (the 

 actual origin of these roots in the leaf is a phenomenon that 

 has yet to be authenticated microscopically) in such a 

 fashion as to permit of the buds, often when still attached 

 to the leaf, being removed from the rosette and successfully 

 established as individual plants. Consequently this desirable 

 plant in particular may be increased safely and satisfactorily 

 by separation of these axillary buds either in the late 

 autumn or very early spring. 



It has been noticed that seedlings of the Nivalids fade 

 away if transplanted when root action is at all vigorous, so 

 that they are best moved when definitely at rest after a spell 

 of cold wintry weather, care being taken that in moving 

 them the roots are not broken too extensively. If they can 

 be grown well enough to make good fat buds they will 





