2792 



PRIMULA 



PRIMULA 



the lobes unequally incise-dentate, long-petioled: scapes 

 erect, exceeding the Ivs., bearing 2-3 superimposed 

 umbels: fls. now of many colors, several to many in an 

 umbel, large and showy, salverform, the segms. 

 obcordate; calyx inflated; corolla-limb about 1J4 in. 

 across, spread out, the lobes broad-cordate, emarginate: 

 caps, glabrous. China. Winter bloomer, as grown in 



3179. Wild form of Primula sinensis, as it grows 

 at Ichang, China. 



greenhouses. B.M. 2564. L.B.C. 10:916, 20:1926. 

 B.R. 539. F.S. 22:2334-7. I.H. 32:551; 35:42. Gn. 

 51:468 and p. 469. G.C. III. 25:181, 203, 205. 

 Gng. 2:91. A.F. 8:623, 625, 671. F.R. 4:29. The 

 Chinese primrose is variable under cult. There are 

 double-fld. forms of various shapes and colors and 

 of various degrees of doubling. For pictures of various 

 double and half-double forms, see R.H. 1867:250, 

 330. F.S. 20:2145. I.H. 31:512; 35:42; 38:126. 

 J.H. III. 44:515. The normal form of this primrose 

 has a somewhat flat-topped fl. -cluster, but there are 

 forms with pyramidal and elongated clusters. Primula 

 sinensis was intro. into England from Chinese gardens 

 in 1820, but it was not until 1879 that the original 

 wild form was known to botanists. For accounts 

 and pictures of this wild primrose as grown in 

 English gardens, see essay by Sutton in Journ. Royal 

 Hort. Soc. 13:99 (1891). G.C. III. 5:117; 8:564; 

 9:209; 31 :270 (reproduced, less than half in Fig. 3179) ; 

 11:13 and 31:271 showing the plant after one year of 

 cult, and reduced in Fig. 3178 (figure reproduced in 

 A.G. 13:245). Gn. 49:214. B.M. 7559. G.C. III. 

 45:148; 55:131. Gn. 62, p. 307. R.H.S. 39:128. Dr. 

 Augustine Henry, who has collected the wild plant at 

 Ichang, in China, writes in Gardeners' Chronicle that 

 "The habitat and mode of growth is remarkedly differ- 

 ent from what we find in the cultivated forms. The 

 wild plant grows on the ledges of rocky cliffs of lime- 

 stone, in spots where there is no soil, and practically 

 no moisture, exposed to the sun, and living amidst the 

 decaying remains of former generations of the plants. 

 These ledges of Primula are often continuous for hun- 

 dreds of feet, and in December and January, when the 

 flowers appear, present a scene of great beauty. The 

 scent of the leaves is very strong, and can be perceived 

 at once on entering any of the ravines where the 

 ledges occur. The flowers are pinkish, with a yellow 

 ring around the neck of the corolla." 



The general improvement of P. sinensis has taken 

 place without hybridity with other species. There are 

 now crested or fringed forms (var. fimbriata, Hort.), 

 and those with a frill or extra corolla projecting from 

 the throat (Fig. 3177). Gt. 43:1402; 45:1432; 46, p. 

 192. G.Z. 31:217. H.F. II. 2:228. G.C. III. 27:141. 

 J.H. III. 62:31. The Ivs. are variable in shape and 

 depth of lobing. Some forms have crisped Ivs. (var. 

 filicifSlia, Hort.). G.Z. 12:2. Var. stellate, Hort, (P. 

 stellaia, Hort.), Fig. 3180, is a form with handsome 

 star-like long-stemmed fls. in successive whorls or tiers 

 in a long open cluster, in pink, blue, red, and white; 

 now a popular conservatory and florist's form, prized 

 for its taller and freer habit and smaller more numerous 

 fls. Gn. 53, p. 229; 57, p. 52; 59, p. 252 (bench). G. 

 20:632; 26:88. G.C. III. 45:149. R.B. 36, p. 268. 

 Gt. 64, p. 91. A.F. 17:7; 18:42. F.E. 19:339. A.G. 

 18: 201; 20: 384, 385. A.F. 12:605. Gng. 5:167. 



AA. Calyx produced into a horn. 



61. pycn61oba, Bur. & Franch. Plant woolly: Ivs. 

 petioled, broadly ovate-cordate, the apex subobtuse, 

 tabulate, the lobes unequally denticulate: scape shorter 

 or longer than the Ivs., bearing 5-12 fls.: bracts large, 

 lanceolate, reticulate-nerved: corolla-tube cylindrical, 

 the lobes small, erect, obovate emarginate and appar- 

 ently subincised. Cent. China. Intro. 1906. B.M. 

 8612. R.H.S. 39:148. Of this plant Balfour writes: 

 "From a group of petiolate hairy leaves with broad 

 heart-shaped lamina, so common in plants of its 

 alliance, there arises a short scape bearing a close cluster 

 of flowers in which the calyx has enlarged as a long 

 creamy white membranous horn .with wide mouth, 

 from the edge of which extend the spike-like sepaline 

 segments. Closing, as it were, the mouth of the horn is 

 seen the small dark red limb of the corolla. There is 

 nothing like it elsewhere in Primula. The species is 

 easily grown if protected from overhead moisture when 

 resting, and it spreads rapidly in the soil by root buds 

 which provide a ready means of propagation." He 

 makes for it the Section Pycnoloba. 



AAA. Calyx little or not at all inflated, narrowed at the base. 

 B. Shape of calyx goblet-like, after flowering becoming 



larger. 

 c. Lobes of calyx entire, acute. 



62. Sieboldii, Morr. (P. cortusoides var. amoena, 

 Lindl., var. grandiflora, Lem., and var. Sieboldii, Hort, 

 P. patens, Turcz. P. amoena, Hort.). Fig. 3181. Pubes- 

 cent all over except the corolla: Ivs. petioled, ovate- 

 oblong, base cordate, lobed, the lobes numerous, 

 unequally dentate; the petiole longer than the blade: 

 scape exceeding the Ivs., bearing a simple many-fld. 

 umbel: fls. white, rose, or purple; calyx funnelform, 

 with narrowly triangular-lanceolate acute lobes which 

 are If .-like and glabrous; corolla - lobes broad and 

 emarginate. Japan. B.M. 5528. I.H. 16:599. Gn. 

 29, p. 382; 35, p. 335; 36:318; 72, p. 327. G.M. 

 51:911. G. 9:454; 19:175. G.L. 17:365. C.L.A. 23, 

 No. 5, 53. R.H.S. 39:176. Gng. 8:241, 242. R.H. 

 1892:300. Looks like a large and robust form of 

 P. cortusoides, with fls. \ l /z to nearly 2 in. across, the 

 throat usually striped and the limb in various colors. 

 The fls. are two to three times larger than those of 

 P. cortusoides. In some forms the fls. are fringed. 

 Blooms in late spring. Hardy N. Several named forms 

 are mentioned in gardening literature, as var. clarkise- 

 fldra (G. 37:109), var. grandiflora, ^and others. 



63. obconica, Hance (P. pocultformis, Hook.). Fig. 

 3182, and Plate XCII. Slender, with loose-hairy Ivs. 

 (the sharp hairs often irritating-poisonous) : Ivs. all 

 radical, ovate-oblong or round-oblong, base more or less 

 cordate, long-petioled, scallop-toothed and very finely 

 serrate: scapes many, 4-10 in. tall, exceeding the Ivs.: 

 bracts small, linear, and unequal: fls. small, lilac or 

 light purple, several to many in umbels, on long-spread- 



