18 



priDiroses which I ever found were growing near Acoriibury Church, in a spot 

 which was once the garden of the ancient " House of Nuunea " at Acornbury. 

 I learn from Mr. Blartin, another of the active botanists of the club, that he has 

 found similar coloured primroses near Goodrich Castle. I know that they also 

 grow near Stretton Sugwas Church, as well as near Upper BuUingham Church. 

 Thus far, the facts seem to suggest that these flowers are descended from 

 specimens in the gardens of the mediaival castles, hermitages, and nunneries, and 

 that they mark the sites of those gardens. A parallel case is aflforded by the 

 presence of Saponaria officinalis in the immediate neighbourhood of the site of 

 the Monastery of the Grayfriars, at the Barton, and in no other spot near 

 Hereford. The building, like the friars who inhabited it, has long since disap- 

 peared, and its site is a pasture field ; but it is interesting to find one of the 

 species of plants which they cultivated still annually recalling the memory of the 

 cowled brethren and their "garden of herbs." 



I have already noticed the Auricula as apparently the next stage from the 

 Oxlip. It has, too, on the other side an affinity to the Cowslip. That flower 

 has in some cases a mealy appearance, although I cannot learn that any instance 

 has been found in which the mealiness comes olT as in the Auricula, and I believe 

 it, therefore, to be in the Cowslip a mere appearance, arising from the exceeding 

 shortness, whiteness, and closeness of the hairs which grow so profusely upon 

 all parts of the plant which are above ground. I understand the P. farinosa of 

 Borae botanists to be founded on this appearance. A peculiarity of growth, 

 which I have not observed noticed in any botanical work, is interesting from the 

 frequency with which it recurs in all the varieties of Primula. Being a corolli- 

 floral exogen, the Primula always produces its stamens from the walls of the 

 corolla tube, but not always from the same part of it. At first, the anthers 

 make their appearance not quite half-way up the tube. When the flower grows 

 normally, the filaments quickly lengthen, aUhough they do not stand out from 

 the substance of the membrane until the anthers reach the mouth of the tube. 

 They then bend over towards each other, meeting in the middle, the valves open, 

 and the pollen is discharged upon the stigma which is just beneath, and the 

 fertilising process goes on in the usual way. Frequently, however, I have found 

 — in all the varieties of the Primula — cases in which the anthers remain in their 

 first position, below the middle of the tube, while the style, having gone on 

 growing naturally, has reached its usual height, and the stigma is thus far 

 above the anthers which were intended to fertilise it. No doubt in miny cases 

 the long proboscis of the bee, or the body of the fly, in search of honey, makes up 

 for the defect in the growth of the stamens. In leaving the flower, or in with- 

 drawing his proboscis laden with honey, the insect may disturb the anthers, 

 and then in passing out through the narrow mouth of the corolla he may brush 

 off the pollen grains upon the stigma over which he passes. I suspect, however, 

 that most of the defective flowers do not get fertilised at all. 



The fact that flowers defective in this way frequently occur is, I am told, 

 well known to florists. The Polyanthus and the Auricula are recognised as 



