PRIMULA. 



the flower-stems easily overtop all these, rising to 7 or 8 inches, and 

 carrying one or two tiers of the brilliant fragrant blossoms. (P. Qatar 

 beliaiia is much like this, but always small in habit and with much 

 larger flowers.) Its home lies throughout the Himalaya from Kashmir 

 to Sikkim, where it loves dry rich peat in shade — as under the shelv- 

 ing rocks in Rhododendron glades. This must be remembered in 

 attempting the cultivation of P. rotundifolia, which, if not suited, is 

 sadly apt to prove perverse and impermanent, and will be best pleased 

 with very perfect drainage in a sheltered dry and warm position, with 

 not only drought but even protection in winter. For it is not a high- 

 alpine, and Primulas that cannot climb higher than a mere 12,000 

 feet in the Himalaya are by no means to be universally trusted in 

 England, where 900 feet often means far more cold and trying con- 

 ditions in winter than those which send up their influence so far 

 from the profound and steamy valleys of Sikkim or Yunnan, that 

 there 10,000 feet is as 2000 on the Alps. 



P. Roylei, with P. Tanneri, P. Griffithii, and P. Gammieana, 

 form a group of Petiolarid Primulas long confused under the 

 name of the unknown P. obtusifolia, itself a Nivalid. P. Roylei 

 has crinkled, wrinkled, undulate, small oval leaves on very short 

 stalks that distinguish it from P. Gammieana. The dainty flower- 

 stems of 4-6 inches carry an ample head of large round-lobed 

 purple blossoms. In light soil it is free in growth, yet not always 

 so free with its blooms, which, in violet multitudes, arouse sick 

 headaches with their metallic scent, in all who traverse its native 

 Indian Alps. 



P. rufa, like P. bullata, is a yellow-flowered cousin to P. Forrestii. 

 It differs from P. bullata in having hairy foliage, though it has the same 

 investiture of golden powder. 



P. Ruprechtii is the better development of P. leucophylla, q.v. 



P. Rusbyi is an outlier of the race, representing it in the Rockies 

 of New Mexico and Arizona. It makes tufts of leathery toothed 

 foliage, rather narrow and without powder. The stems are about 

 6 inches high, bearing loose clusters of more or less nodding blooms, 

 rather funnel-shaped, with the face expanding into a bowl of livid and 

 obscure red-purple, like an old bloodstain on faded velvet. It should 

 have an open warm place in moist but well-drained peaty loam, where 

 it will flower in later summer and keep up the succession. It is a 

 curiosity, and has a certain sad and sinister attraction, though by 

 no means among the beauties of the family, at least in its poorer 

 forms, for others are of much cheerier colouring and charm. It 

 follows the habits of P. japonica by seeking, at home, for rich damp 



(i.we) 177 II.— M 



