PRIMULA 



PRIMULA 



1431 



from seed. Primula Forbesi comes from China. It is 

 a dwarf, compact plant, and its lilac flowers are produced 

 in whorls on long, wiry stems, as they are in P. 

 Japonica. It can be raised from seed or increased by 

 division. P. obconica is a very showy plant and will 

 produce blossoms almost continually. It would make a 

 valuable florists' plant if it was not that it is slightly 

 poisonous to the touch. It has been greatly improved 

 since its introduction in 1882. The best form now in 

 cultivation is P. obconica, var. gr and i flora fimbriata. 

 Young plants are easily obtained from seed and can 

 be grown in the greenhouse in one summer until they 

 are large enough for 8-inch pots. Primula verticillata 

 is a desirable greenhouse plant with yellow flowers 

 which are produced in whorls on the stems. It has 

 handsome foliage covered with a white mealy powder. 

 If this powder is washed off with careless watering the 

 plants are never so handsome. ROBERT CAMERON. 



Running Notes on Primula. Of the greenhouse 

 species, P. Sinensis is the old stand-by. The single 

 forms are easily grown from seed. It requires about 

 seven months from date of sowing to bloom. For fall 

 flowering, sow in March. Soak seeds 24 hours in water. 

 This will insure a more even germination. Then sow 

 in pans filled with light sandy soil, covering the seeds 

 only very thinly with sand ; temperature 70 F. Keep 

 pans always moist and shady. In two or three weeks' 

 time, in case seeds were fresh, which is most essential, 

 the young seedlings need pricking out. For that pur- 

 pose flat boxes or earthen pans filled with a mixture of 

 two parts peat and one part common garden soil are the 

 best; do not take pots, because they are too deep and 

 do not dry out fast enough. Keep shady; temperature 

 70. When large enough, transplant in thumb-pots very 

 loosely and not too deep. Mixture of soil and the tem- 

 perature should be the same as previously advised. Keep 

 plants shifted into larger pots as fast as they require it. 

 Do not let them get root-bound. Make the soil heavier 

 at each transplanting. At the last shift, which should be 

 from five to six months from date of sowing, use liberally 

 of cow manure and bone-meal. Through the whole sum- 

 mer plants should be kept shady and cool, syringing 

 overhead twice a day. Get them accustomed to the 

 sun in fall. Temperature in winter 50 to 60 F. Double 

 Primulas can be propagated by cuttings in moss at a 

 temperature of 70 to 80 F. After they are rooted, treat 

 them the same as seedlings. The best time for propa- 

 gating is in February and March. We need hybrids of 

 this Chinese Primrose with other greenhouse species. 

 The writer has succeeded in making a promising cross 

 of P. Sinensis and P. obconica. This is figured in 

 American Agriculturist, March, 1900. 



Primula obconica and the form known as P. obconica 

 hybrida should have treatment exactly as for P. Si- 

 nensis. P. Forbesi is a small lilac-flowered greenhouse 

 species, requiring the treatment given P. Sinensis. It 

 is now becoming well known. 



Primula Auricula, the Primrose of the Alps, has 

 flowers variously colored, mostly yellow. Hardy or 

 half-hardy, needs light soil, plenty of air and sunshine; 

 good for rockwork. The Auricula has never become 

 popular in America. 



Primula cortusoides and P. Sieboldi are beautiful 

 species of Siberia, of dark rose color. Hardy; give 

 plenty of air and a very sunny, rather dry exposure. 

 Very satisfactory spring flowers. 



Primula capitata has flowers violet-blue in dense 

 heads. It is one of the most beautiful species of the 

 Himalayan region. It is difficult to cultivate here, be- 

 cause it needs a very cool temperature. Sow seed in cold- 

 frame, prick out as soon as up, keep on growing outside 

 in a cool place through the summer. In fall they may be 

 potted, and, kept in the coldframe through winter; they 

 will be beautiful pot-plants in spring. It is a good plant 

 for rockeries if it gets a place which is sheltered from 

 the sun and yet not shady. P. denticulata and var. 

 Cachemiriana are hardy. Give a moist, sunny place. 



Primula Stuartii has dark yellow flowers. This beau- 

 tiful species is half-hardy; it needs a light soil, but not 

 dry, with full sun. Covered with a box over winter, it 

 will come through safely. It is rarely seen in this 

 country. ADOLF JAENICKE. 



KEY TO THE GROUPS. 



A. Young leaves involute (rolled in- 

 wards or upwards ) . 

 B. Lvs. thick: fls. umbellate: invo- 



lucral bracts usually not leafy . 1. AURICULA 

 BB. Lvs. thin: fls.verticillate: bracts 



leafy 2. FLORIBUND.K 



AA. Young Ivs. revolute (rolled back- 

 wards ) . 



B. Plant large, with yellow or pur- 

 ple fls. in successive whorls . . 3. PRO LIFERS 

 BB. Plant with fls. in umbels or 

 heads, or if in whorls the plants 

 small and slender (as grown 

 under glass) and the fls. lilac 

 to white. 

 c. Lvs. lobed, the lobes dentate or 



crenate 4. SINENSES 



cc. Lvs. not lobed, or only indis- 

 tinctly so. 



D. Calyx enlarging after flow- 

 ering, leafy 5. MONOCARPIO 



DD. Calyx not enlarging. 



E. Fls. not bracied 6. BARBATE 



BE. Fls. bracted, either soli- 

 tary or many. 

 F. Foliage distinctly pi- 

 lose or pubescent. 

 G. Each flower dis- 

 tinctly stalked 7. VERNALES 



GG. Each flower sessile 



or very nearly so. 8. CAPITATE 

 FF. Foliage glabrous or 

 only minutely pu- 

 bescent. 



G. Invohtcral bracts 



gibbous or eared 



at the base. 



H. Capsule globose, 



included in the 



calyx 9. AURICULATA 



HH. Capsule oblong - 

 cylindrical, ex- 



serted 10. FARINOSE 



GG. Invo lucra I bracts 

 not gibbose nor 

 eared: capsule 

 cylindrical : peti- 

 ole narrowly 

 winged 11. NIVALES 



1. AURICULA. 



1. Auricula, Linn. AURICULA. See p. 118 and Fig. 

 171, Vol. I. Low, with a radical rosette of thick obovate- 

 cuneate glabrous or pubescent mealy Ivs. 2 or 3 inches 

 long, which are often crenate on the upper part: scales 

 3-6 in. long, erect, prominently exceeding the Ivs. : fls. 

 in an umbel, sometimes as many as 20, bright yellow and 

 fragrant, short-stalked, subtended by minute oval mealy 

 bracts, the segments obovate-cuneate and emarginate: 

 stamens dimorphous. This description represents the 

 wild form as understood and described by J. G. Baker 

 in B.M. 6837. "It is one of the most widely spread of 

 all the species," Baker writes, "as it extends in a wild 

 state from Dauphine and the Jura on the west through 



