CHAP. I. PRIMULA AURICULA. 43 



but this explanation seems to me doubtful ; bis plants 

 were in a less fertile condition than mine, as shown by 

 the difference in the number of seeds produced, and 

 it is highly probable that their lessened fertility would 

 have interfered with especial force with their capacity 

 for producing self-fertilised seeds. 



PRIMULA AURICULA.* 



This species is heterostyled, like the preceding ones; but 

 amongst the varieties distributed by florists the long-styled form 

 is rare, as it is not valued. There is a much greater relative in- 

 equality in the length of the pistil and stamens in the two forms 

 of the auricula than in the cowslip ; the pistil in the long-styled 

 being nearly four times as long as that in the short-styled, in 

 which it is barely longer than the ovarium. The stigma is nearly 

 of the same shape in both forms, but is rougher in the long-styled, 

 though the difference is not so great as between the two forms 

 of the cowslip. In the long-styled plants the stamens are very 

 short, rising but little above the ovarium. The pollen-grains of 

 these short stamens, when distended with water, were barely 6b 8 00 

 of an inch in diameter, whereas those from the long stamens of 

 the short-styled plants were barely -g^o, showing a relative dif- 

 ference of about 71 to 100. The smaller grains of the long- 

 styled plant are also much more transparent, and before disten- 

 tion with Water more triangular in outline than those of the 

 other form. Mr. Scott | compared ten plants of both forms grow- 

 ing under similar conditions, and found that, although the long- 

 styled plant produced more umbels and more capsules than the 

 short-styled, yet they yielded fewer seeds, in the ratio of 66 to 

 100. Three short-styled plants were protected by me from the 



* According to Kernor our gar- short-styled 98 seeds per capsule 



den auriculas are descended fromP. see his " Geschichte der Aurikel," 



pubescent, Jacq., which is a hybrid ' Zeitschr. des Deutschen und (Jest, 



between the true P. auricula and Alpen-Vereins, Band vi. p. 52. 



Mrsuta. This hybrid has now been Also 'DiePrimulaceen-Bastarten,' 



propagated for about 300 years, ' Oest. Bot. Zeitschrift,' 1835, Noa. 



and produces, when legitimately 3, 4, and 5. 



fertilised, a large number of seeds ; t ' Journ. Linn. Soo. Bot.' vol 



the long-styled forms yielding an viii. 1864, p. 86. 

 average number of 73, and the 



