PRIMULA. 



-. m, and seed should b whenever it may offer, sup- 



posing you are lucky enough to happen on a form that is fit for 

 ise than to be instantly hyked up and thrown on the 

 rabbit 



P. megaeeaefclia is not happy in the open, though quite hardy. 

 bit of trying to unfold its rather ugly magenta stars 

 in mid-winter is largely accountable for this, as in rich good soil it 

 grows readily in a cool nook of the rock-work, loving moisture during 

 the period of growth, and producing abundance of its large sham- 

 looking begonioid leaves, heart-shaped on stout stalks, leathery - 

 fleshy, and lingering near the ground, smooth on the uyjper surface, 

 and with russet hairs below along the lines of the ribs ; and then 

 sending up stout stalks of 8 inches or so, unfolding one or two umbels 

 of long-pedicelled, large yellow-eyed flowers in a rather chilly and 

 bitter tone of magenta-lilac (suggesting an acid old maid crossed in 

 an unreasonable love-affair), and nipped by the winter-frost of their 

 belated appearance. For, as I say : it will attempt to produce its 

 flowers in winter, and so, though hardy, from the sub-alpine woods of 

 L.z:-tan. at about 900 feet, it is best cultivated indoors b} r such as 

 crave for colour in the vein of a deepened P. obconica. It was in- 

 troduced by Miss Ellen Willmott in 1901. 



P. membnmifciia, on the contrary, is a treasure among the most 

 treasurable. High up in the limestones of Yunnan it may here and 

 there be seen, though only here and there, occupying moss-tussocks 

 on the wet precipices facing North, or lurking under the spray of a 

 waterfall, its delicate little roots running along in the moss, and 

 making no attempt to pierce the breast of the inhospitable cliff. So 

 it makes tufts of very brilliant little green foliage, oval wedge-shaped, 

 scalloped, almost transparent, and powdered with gold dust beneath, 

 that s'-rve admirably as foils for the many wide and starry flowers 

 ay-violet, delicious!;. hat appear above them in wide- 



rayed heads, on a scape so short that it often looks as if each bloom 

 were springing straight from among the leaves. P. memhraivfolia 

 has a continuous flowering season, too, and reserves yet another 

 pleasant surprise for its possessor. For he sees the opening blossoms 

 day, and says Ha-ha ! for their beauty ; but on the 

 1 he comes round, and they are half as big again ; and on 

 j.ird they are still larger yet, and language fails him, unless he 

 .mical of it at the start. For Ha-ha ! will no longer meet 



/'. mien lie look, habits, and needs of P. sikkimensis. 



P. minima oov< d lawns of all the Eastern Alps, 



156 



