PRIMULA. 



leaves are 2 or 3 inches long, arranged in a tuft, oblong, dentate- 

 crenulate, and clothed with golden meal beneath. The scape rises 

 above them, and carries very large flowers, of a brilliant violet-purple. 



P. calycina, a varietal name of P. glaucescens, which far too often 

 is made to figure in catalogues as a separate and distinct species, or 

 as a substitute for the proper name, q.v. 



P. Candolleana = P. integrifolia, q.v. 



P. capitata is a garden name embracing a whole number of allied 

 but quite definite species, of which, to increase the confusion, several 

 are now in cultivation. P. capitata, true, is one of the mifnest and 

 poorest of the lot ; then comes P. crispa, the commonest P. « capi- 

 tata " of gardens and catalogues (P. erosa of Bot. Mag., T. 6916a) ; 

 P. Mooreana is by far the finest species, though ; long-lived and 

 stout, with stalwart white-powdered stems, contrasting beautifully 

 with the ample round head of Tyrian violet flowers in August and 

 onwards — in short, a first-class treasure for any rich, cool, well- 

 drained position, and the one " capitata " that deserves diligently 

 ensuing : I have had plants four and five years old, more and more 

 lavish of loveliness each season. P. nano-capitata has a dwarf 

 habit and very brief life for its portion — it has probably got 

 P. "capiiata" its bad name as a biennial; P. lacteo-capitata has 

 notably creamy meal, and unlike sulphur- powdered P. Craibiana is now 

 in cultivation, as is also P. atrodentata with its black-tipped sepals, 

 'these are all from Sikkim aid Bhutan ; but China offers us P. sphaer- 

 ocephala, and has already given us P. pseudo-capitata, a notably 

 vigorous grower in our gardens. 



P. capitellata is a little species from Afghanistan, not in cultivation, 

 akin to P. farinosa, with pink flowers, in a close umbel. The plant 

 often shown under this name is only a form of P. auriculata. 



P. carniolica, one of the rarest and remotest of European Primulas, 

 is confined to a few wooded hill-tops in the Idrian Alps just north of 

 Trieste. The whole growth is glabrous to the point of being glossy, the 

 oval, smooth, brilliantly-green leaves having a special charm of their 

 own, only surpassed when up come the 6-inch scapes, carrying from 

 three to eight large round blossoms of a delicate, delicious soft rose, with 

 a solid round eye of white meal at their throat. On its native hills 

 P. carniolica grows frail and straggly in the moss and damp rocks 

 beneath the densest shade of firs ; but in the garden it proves every- 

 where a species of the most perfect adaptability and charm, in any 

 cool rich soil. There has been known a lovely white form ; it is only, 

 at this present hour, a " Has-been." The typo has thriven in cultiva- 

 tion for many years, and figures in catalogues so freely, and at so cheap 



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