PRIMULA. 



Viola alpina, Loiseleuria procumbens, Androsace lactea, A. villosa, 

 Dianthus alpinus, Primula auricula, Campanula pulla, and Campanula 

 alpina. P. Clusiana forms stout clumps of broad, pointed, glossy- 

 green leaves, from which shoot up the 3- or 4-inch scapes, carrying as 

 many as half a dozen enormous round flowers of glowing carmine, 

 with a white ej-e, and the lobes of the corolla so deeply divided that 

 the blossom has the air of possessing ten petals. No difficulty whatever 

 attaches to the cultivation of this beloved and splendid species, which 

 adds to its virtues that of being even ampler of growth and freer of 

 flower hi our gardens than on the windswept uplands of the Hoch- 

 schneeberg and the Raxalpc. It has suffered in gardens, indeed, from 

 the curious superstition that has doomed all the European Primulas 

 to dank and shady places. In many such may P. Clusiana and 

 P. spectabilis be seen sadly lingering in exile, never flowering ; in point 

 of fact all the four great Arthritic Primulas (and nearly all the other 

 European species, too), want as much light as they can get. They are 

 lords of the sun-trodden high bare lawns in the limestone Alps, and 

 like a good open position, in light, well-drained peaty loam, mixed 

 freely with sand and limestone chips. This being granted, P. Clusiana 

 stands high among the easiest and most manageable glories of its race ; 

 varying, like all the European Primulas, in size and amplitude of 

 blossom, but always magnificent and worthy of regard. It has bred 

 at least one hybrid, even more remarkable if possible than itself. See 

 P. x intermedia. 



P. Cockburniana is in all gardens by now, though few years have 

 passed since its whorls of fiery copper-orange flowers first staggered 

 the gardening world. It is a small species of the Candelabra section 

 headed by P. japonica, and responds quite readily to cultivation in 

 any light cool soil, not parched or sunburnt. It seeds, too, with 

 exemplary generosity, and it is as well thus to multiply it from year 

 to year ; for, though no more necessarily biennial than a P. 

 « capitata," it has true capitata' s way of dying off sometimes after too 

 profuse a blooming season, or of disappearing from damp, rich, or 

 imperfectly drained soil in the winter, unless it be divided annually, 

 crown from crown. In no case, probably, will P. Cockburniana be 

 very long-lived, but its easy habits and ready germination imply a 

 minimum of annual trouble in keeping relays of its flat basal rosettes 

 of wrinkled leaves, from which so freely rise the powder-white stems 

 beset with rings of largo blooms of that refulgent scarlet orange. 



P. coerulea of the Davldi's, still mocks our longings from afar. 



P. cognata was collected by Purdom in 1911, but has since been 

 suspiciously little heard of. At present it is a vague name, covering 



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