THE AURICULA. 435 
THE AURICULA. 
By James Dovuauas, V.M.H. 
THE auricula is an old-fashioned favourite and highly interesting as a 
garden plant; and if we can trace its origin by any process of selection 
or hybridisation an interesting problem would be solved. If this Con- 
ference had been held in April I could have exhibited a series of auricula 
plants in bloom which would have demonstrated to some extent the 
variability of the cultivated auricula, and its not infrequent reversion to 
what may be supposed was its original source. Most cultivators of the 
auricula are not at all disturbed about the source from which their 
favourite was derived in the first place. They have a standard of 
excellence in their mind, and those who attempt to produce new varieties 
by cross-breeding, destroy or neglect every variety not up to this 
standard. In the auricula proper of gardens there are four classes, and 
every new production is made to fit into one or other of these classes. 
There is first the green-edged, with the centre tube of the corolla of a 
yellow tint; next the paste, caused by a thick coating of white farina: 
this centre is enclosed in a ring of very dark, almost black, maroon, and 
the outer margin of the corolla is green; the grey edge is like the green in 
every respect except that the part which is green is lightly dotted with white 
spots of farina. The white-edged section differs from the grey in having 
a thicker coating of meal over the green ground. The fourth class is 
entirely different. The yellow tube and centre disc of dense white 
farina is enclosed in a margin of one unshaded colour: it may be dark 
maroon, red, violet, or yellow ; the yellow colour was not favoured by the 
florists in the early years of the fancy, but very good, well-formed yellow 
varieties have been produced in recent years. From a scientific point of 
view it has been unfortunate that every plant produced outside the 
above well-defined limits has heen neglected; but in recent years many 
curious forms have been selected from amongst the thousands of seed- 
lings produced annually, some of them greatly resembling the descrip- 
tions given of the varieties in cultivation at the time Parkinson wrote 
the “Paradisus, or Garden of Pleasant Flowers.” The next type of 
auricula is termed, for gardening purposes, the Alpine auricula. The 
name is well understood, although it is well known that all the auriculas 
are Alpine. The florists have set up a standard of excellence for the 
Alpine auricula as they have done for the edged type. 
The Alpine auricula must not have any meal (farina) on flower or 
leaf, and the corolla, instead of having a white centre powdered, has a 
smooth centre of yellow or cream colour entirely free from meal, with a 
margin of maroon or reddish-maroon, apricot, or purplish-maroon, darker 
near the central disc, and shading to a paler colour at the margin. In 
all the sections a strong point is the position of the stigma. If it pro- 
trudes from the mouth the flower is termed “pin-eyed’’; and if the 
EE2 
