286 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
character described, and the beautiful illustration in the number of The 
Garden, October 13, 1888, was drawn from these specimens. 
Hysrip Trouiii.—Everyone is acquainted with our native Trollius 
europeus, or Globe Flower, with its beautifully imbricated coloured 
calyx, which it unfolds to the sun and closes at night, the Luckan 
Gowan of Scotland, and one of our most beautiful native plants. From 
its symmetrical shape and general hardiness, I thought a cross with the 
higher coloured American form might yield some improved varieties. A 
few years ago, with that view, the stamina in an immature state were clipped 
from some blooms of Trolliws europeus and the flowers marked, and 
having placed some blooms of 7’. americanus (?) in a sunny window, I suc- 
ceeded in getting plenty of poilen, which was applied to the pistils of our 
native plant. From the complete natural covering of the flower, insects, 
as a rule, find some difficulty in both entering and getting out of the 
blooms. Hence when the pollen of 7. americanus is dusted over the 
stigmas, there is less chance of interference. The seeds matured and 
were sown at once, small, black, shining objects, which if not sown at 
once refuse to germinate. A goodly array of small plants appeared, and 
were pricked out into boxes and pans, and ultimately planted in the 
open ground. They took two seasons to flower ; indeed it was the third 
season before they became good flowering plants. A large proportion of 
the seedlings showed the effect of the cross, displaying the orange florets 
of the T. americanus, with improved size of flower and colour in the 
calyx, all mostly of a vigorous habit of growth. The corollas of the 
British form never show anything but a pale yellow shade ; but when that 
plant is crossed, most of the seedlings, but not all, demonstrate the in- 
fluence of the pollen of the other species. The best seedling of the whole, 
lost from over-kindness, was of a brilliant orange colour, twice the size 
of T. Fortuni, beautifully imbricated, but seemed delicate in habit. Mrs. 
Kingsbury, of London, painted it and others; Mr. Dean saw the blooms, 
and compared them to Orange Hoses. During June, 1899, they have 
bloomed to perfection, in many shades of orange and deep yellow. There 
remains some doubt as to the pollen bearer being T’rollius americanus 
at all, as a botanist from New York writes me that the American form 
was a shabby plant and half single. In this instance, however, the 
pollen bearer happens to be a very handsome form indeed, with bright 
orange florets, and of robust habit. The Trollius family is among her- 
baceous plants one of the finest in its season of flowering, and well worth 
the attention of the hybridist in trying to produce both size of bloom 
and colour also. 
Primutas.—The Primulacee exhibit an anomaly in their reprodue- 
tive organs which puzzled many hybridists till the late Mr. Charles 
Darwin elucidated the cause. He found some Primule with short stamina 
and long pistils, and others with long stamina and short pistils. He also, 
by experiment, proved, in order to get fertile seeds, it was necessary to have 
pollen from plants with the same length of stamina and pistils. Besides, the 
size and colour of the pollen grains varied, and was another cause of infer- 
tility. The infertility which occurs in various dimorphic and trimorphie 
plants when illegitimately fertilised, that is, by pollen taken from stamens 
not corresponding in height with the pistil, differs much in degree, up to abso- 
