PRIMULA. 



P. nivalis sinopurpurea and P. n. sinoplantaginea are Chinese 

 repetitions of the forms to which they prefix the name of their 

 native land. P. n. sinopurpurea is especially splendid, and folded in 

 wrappings of bright golden meal, and with leaves untoothed or scalloped. 

 Its imperial violet flowers are often borne in tiers. And see Appendix. 



P. nivea, Sims, the one valid name for all white forms of 

 P. x pubescens. 



P. norica. See under P. villosa. 



P. nutans belongs to the Grape-hyacinth group, but, among its 

 spiked congeners, may always be known by its much larger bells, 

 which are sweet -sconted and violet-lavender, in glory surpassing all its 

 kin. It must be sought in the high woods and mossy rocks of Yunnan. 



P. nutantijlora= P . Fargesii, q.v. 



P. obconica is an evil thing, and, what is more, useless for our 

 purposes. To save the unwary, how r ever, from falling into the pit of 

 intemperance (like Earl Pcden's daughter, — though in the way of 

 extravagance), we may point out that all the following names cover 

 mere forms, and microforms, of P. obconica : PP. aynbita, barbicalyx, 

 begoniaeformis, Bonatiana, Cavalieri, oreodoxa, parva, Petitmengini, 

 sinolistcri, and VUmoriniana. 



P. obliqua, so far, is nominis umbra — to our gardens. For there 

 are rumours of a wonderful P. " Stuartii " with pure white (or yellow ?) 

 flowers, and a slanting face, which glorifies the high-alpine meadows 

 of Sikkim in July ; and when it comes to England it will find the name 

 obliqua ready for it to assume. For it has proved a true species. 



P. obovata belongs to the strange outlying Carolinella group, and 

 is less unlike a Primula than the others. It lives in the woods of 

 Yunnan, and there, on the ground, outspreads three or four vast leaves, 

 in outline and stem exactly like the great paddle-shaped quills with 

 which 1913 armed the hat of every self-respecting woman capable of 

 affording such a luxury, or of robbing a dead goose to adorn a living 

 one. In a thin star these lie spread, and in the middle rises up a tall 

 thin stem ending an upright loose head of narrow, little bugles of pink, 

 each on an aspiring foot -stalk of its own. 



P. Obristii, a form of P. auricula, q.v. 



P. obtusifulia, though often quoted, is not yet known in cultiva- 

 tion. The name has been used in inextricable confusion for P. 

 Roylei, P. immieana, and P. Or'ffithii, three allied species in the 

 iip of P. petioliris and P. s mchifolia. whereas the true P. oltusi- 

 folia is a N. valid, close to P. purpurea, Royle. In the Bot. Mag. 

 and in the Conference Report tho plant figured as P. cbtusifolia is 

 ly plain P. Roylei. 



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