44 PERENNIALS. [March. 



handsome in cultivation. It consists of elegant border 

 flowers, valuable for flowering early, and during the whole 

 season, even till frost. While the majority of plants bloom- 

 ing late in the season are generally syngenesious, with yel- 

 low flowers, these delight us with their lively colours of 

 purple, red, white and striped. A collection of them pro- 

 perly attended to, would of themselves constitute a beau- 

 tiful flower garden. It will be difficult to state which are 

 the finest, but the following are select varieties : P. bicolor, 

 multiflora, Breckii, Carterii, Tournella, Van Houttii, Spe- 

 ciosa, Jllcardii, longiflora, Ixta, a superb white ; omniflora, 

 beautiful dwarf white; P. odorata; P. corymbosa; P. 

 suaveolens ; P. reflexa ; P. stolonifera ; P. divaricata ; 

 P. nivalls ; and P. subuldta. In the spring of 1831, an 

 eminent British collector* exclaimed, on seeing a patch of 

 P. subulata in one of the pine barrens of New Jersey, 

 " The beauty of that alone is worth coming to America to 

 see, it is so splendid." Most of the species delight in a 

 rich light sandy loam. When the plants become large, 

 they ought to be divided, and planted in fresh ground. 



Primulas, Primrose. To this genus belong the cele- 

 brated Cowslip, Oxslip, Primrose, and the esteemed jJuri- 

 cula. The double varieties of Primrose have originated 

 from P. vulgaris. These are such as carry their flowers 

 on separate pedicles, rising from the root on a small stem. 

 The double varieties are desirable for their beauty, but re- 

 quire the protection of a frame during winter. They are 

 in colour red, white, yellow, lilac, purple, and crimson. P. 

 elatior is the Oxslip, from which all the Polyanthuses have 

 been grown. They are in variety innumerable, and are 

 those whose flowers are in umbels, on a scape or flower- 

 stalk, rising from three to nine inches. The rules for judg- 

 ing of their merits are wholly artificial, agreed on from 

 time to time by florists. The one that is the leading beauty 

 this year, would, in few years, be far in the rear. The 

 principal character is, that the corolla is not notched or 

 fringed ; the colours pure and distinct, not running into 

 one another; the tube small; the eye round, and a little 

 prominent. Being surrounded with white, and the ground 

 purple, is a fine character. P. auricula. From this the 



* Mr. Drummond. 



