1912-13.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 191 



but even specie- without conspicuous glands give off the 

 odour. 



These undershrub primulas are evergreen — a note- 

 worthy character, for it is not merely, as in the Auricula, 

 section, the persistence of a convolute bud with a few 

 withered leaves below it. but the permanence of the great 

 tufts of green leaves. Yet it is not surprising to find this 

 in alpine plants of this habit as a prelude to the desiccation 

 in time of the leave- for the protective purpose already 

 indicated. Petiolation of the leaves is seen in all the sr 

 and then the blade in many of them shows conspicuously 

 bullation of the upper surface and a consequent elevation 

 of the veins on the under surface. This character is pi 

 in the young leaves of all the species, but it disappears in 

 the older ones frequently, and these may have quite fiat 

 surfaces. The bullation is not by any mean- peculiar 

 to this group. It is found in species of several other 

 sections, especially in juvenile leaves, but its ~:ence 



in the adult in several of the 3] iee now under con- 

 sideration gives them a physiognomy that arrest- atten- 

 tion. Where farina is present it > __ _ated prominently 

 in the interstices of the veinlets on the under side of 

 the leaf. Here I may add that in P. Lact i, Hemsley 

 et Watt, there is a coating of interlaced hairs which 

 gives the plant the appearance of being covered by a 

 snow wool. 



In all the species excepting one. P. Hcnrici, Bureau et 

 Franchet. the flowers are arranged in a simple umbel. In 

 P. H Bureau et Franchet. they are a 1 as 



solitary. In most of them the scape is developed, either 

 elongated above the leaves as in P. buJlata, Franchet ; 

 P. rufa, Balf. til.: P. F Balf. til., or immersed in 



the leaves a- in P. bracteata, Franchet : P. ■ 

 Petitmengin; P. Monbeigii, Balf. til.: P. D" 

 G. Forrest. P. Law '■. Hemsley et Watt, is peculiar, and its 

 construction has given origin to some misinterpretation. 

 The flowers develop at the outset in an umbellate cluster 

 at the end of a twig : no scape is visible : but before long 

 the scape begins to shoot out. and subsequently when the 

 fruit is formed the scape is evident as a distinct, though 

 short, pillar from the top of which the fruiting pedicels 



