70 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



The Alpine Primulaceae. 



By Dr. Robert Brown. 



[Read 25th August, 19Q3.] 



Tms Order includes some of the most beautiful and interesting 

 alpine plants. The majority of the genera are rich in colour, 

 and the mode of growth and variety in form make them specially 

 attractive. They are found in great profusion near the snow 

 and in the detritus and on the rocks along the edge of glaciers, 

 while the flat ledges and fissures in the precipitous faces of rocks 

 give lodgment to many others. 



The principal alpine genera are the Androsace, the Primula, 

 and the Soldanella. There are many species of Androsace, some 

 of which form dense, sponge-like tufts, while others grow in 

 rosettes, having fairly long flower stems. 



The flower may be white, pink, crimson, or yellow. The 

 corolla is rotate, five-lobed, with a long tube. The arrangement 

 is an umbel, surrounded with an involucre of bracts. The leaves 

 are all radical. 



There is one yellow species, Androsace vitaliana, Nils. ( = Aretia 

 vitaliana, L.), with a creeping stem and linear leaves arranged 

 in rosettes. This is found plentifully on the high peaks above 

 Zermatt, generally in the trail of the melting snow. It is also 

 found in Piedmont (Mont Oenis), the Tyrol, and the Pyrenees. 

 It is, on the whole, rare. 



Androsace carnea, L., A. Wul/eniaiia, Sieb., A. I/ausmanni, 

 Leyb., and A. Hierii (Hegetschw.), have pink or red corollas, are 

 found on high, rocky situations, and are generally local and rare. 

 A. villosa, L., A. lactea, L., A. ohtusifolia, and A. Chamoejasme, 

 Host., have white flowers, and are frequent on high pasture slopes 

 in Switzerland, the Tyrol, Austrian Alps, and the Pyrenees. 



Androsace imbricata, Lam., A, helvetica, Gaud., A. glacialis, 

 Hoppe, A. pubescens, DC, A. Charpentieri, Heer., and A. 

 pyrenaica, Lam., have solitary flowers, and are mostly growing in 

 dense tufts, A. glacialis being particularly striking by its broad, 



