PRIMULA. 



P. oculata stands close to P. heucherifolia, but has deeper colouring. 



P. odontocalyx comes near P. petiolaris, but is too much a stranger 

 still. Its flowers are said to be on the large side, in a sprayed head of 

 some 2 inches tall, above the powderless leaves in among them. Its 

 home is in the rocks above the Yang-tze. 



P. oenensis carries many names, and is rarely seen in gardens under 

 any of them, though catalogues often ring the changes on P. daonensis, 

 P. cadinensis, P. stelviana, P. Pooliana and P. Plantae. It is an Ery- 

 throdose, and close akin to P. hirsuta, from which, however, it differs 

 obviously in having much narrower leaves, oblong wedge-shaped. The 

 blossoms, too, seem longer and thinner and more starved in effect and 

 arrangement. It is a rarity to be looked for successfully only in a small 

 district of the Western Rhaetian Alps from the Stelvio to the Adamello, 

 where, on the high granites, its single clumps of sticky -leaved russet- 

 glanded rosettes may be seen dotted over the topmost fells and crests, 

 beset closely with glowing loose heads of magenta-crimson bloom. 

 The most obvious place to see it is where it jumps to the eye en the 

 top of the Stelvio, covering the little pothouse-crowned hill called 

 the Dreisprachenspitz ; but it also bejewels many other high moors 

 thereabouts ; as, for instance, the topmost desolations of the Torsoleto 

 ridge opposite the Adamello. In cultivation it is a thoroughly easy 

 species, but quite outclassed by P. hirsuta and P. pedemontana, to say 

 nothing of other members of the group. 



P. officinalis. — The Cowslip is a beloved name, but the gardener 

 need not linger on it too lovingly or long. The following list of names, 

 however, sometimes offered without note in catalogues, all cover 

 varieties of the Cowslip, and their bearers are all things of beauty, 

 and by no means matter for disappointment, if only the naked name 

 has not led the innocent into hoping for some precious purple rarity 

 out of China : PP. oo. ampliata, hortensis (uniftora, asca.pa, autumnalis, 

 calycina), macrocalyx, with sub-forms virescens, colchica, alpina ; 

 canescens (pannonica, inflata, macrocalyx), with forms calvescens, 

 cinerascens, hardeggensis, and composita ; and Columnae {Tommasinii, 

 pyrenaica, cordifolia, discolor), which joins the last — as they all join 

 hands with each other indeed — in an inextricable riot of intermediate 

 forms. And here, too, it may be convenient to include the names of 

 all the Bastard Oxlips, the hybrids of P. officinalis and P. acaulis, 

 always to be distinguished from the true Oxlip, P. elatior (which, 

 however, has no idea of not adding to the merry maze by itself pro- 

 ducing hybrids alike with Cowslip and with Primrose. Therefore 

 there is no need here to unravel the web at length ; let the names duly 

 be given, and the rough notion of their aspect thereby gained. Nearest, 



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