GARDENS AND GARDENING 47 



[Primula sinensis) was introduced from Canton into the 

 garden of Thomas Palmer, Esq., of Bromley, Kent, by John 

 Reeves about 1820. It is a native of Hupeh, where it occurs 

 in great abundance on the dry, precipitous, limestone cliffs 

 of the Ichang Gorge and its lateral glens. The wildling is a 

 true perennial with flowers of a uniform mauve-pink colour. 

 Another greenhouse Primrose (P. obconica) occurs in the same 

 region but in moist loamy situations. 



The Indian and Mollis Azaleas and a score of other favourite 

 plants of our gardens all came originally from Chinese gardens 

 through various agencies. It is true we have developed most 

 of these introductions almost beyond recognition, and the 

 Chinese are now acquiring new forms and varieties from us, 

 yet without these early arrivals how much poorer our gardens 

 and conservatories would be to-day ! In bygone times, even 

 only about a century ago, that part of the world which we know 

 as China was loosely spoken of as the " Indies," and this geo- 

 graphical blunder is perpetuated in the specific name " indica " 

 which botanists have attached to some of these plants. In 

 the middle of last century many ornamental plants were 

 received from the gardens of Japan, and botanists, assuming 

 that these were natives of the country, gave the specific name 

 "japonica" to certain of them. Subsequent knowledge has, 

 however, conclusively proved that a number of the so-called 

 Japanese plants are only cultivated forms of plants originally 

 natives of China. Thus has the geographer and botanist 

 unwittingly obscured China's right to be termed the " King- 

 dom of Flowers." 



