1432 



PRIMULA 



PRIMULA 



Switzerland to Lombardy, the Tyrol, Hungary and 

 Transylvania." In cultivation, the plant has run into 

 flowers of many colors. It is possible that some of 

 these forms are hybrid progeny with related species. 

 Baker writes : "What the relation is of this widely- 

 spread wild type to the multiform races of the garden 



1954. Primula cortusoides (separate fls. X 



Auricula is a subject that still remains to be fully 

 worked out." Pax mentions various natural hybrids. 



2. FLORIBUND.E. 



2. floribunda, Wall. Hairy: Ivs. rather thin, 3-6 in. 

 long, ovate or elliptic or obovate, with a broad petiole, 

 strongly nerved and reticulated, the margins coarse- 

 toothed: scales slender but erect, 10 in. or less, bearing 

 loose whorls that are subtended by three or four leaf- 

 like toothed bracts : fls. small, golden yellow, the slender 

 tube exserted beyond the deep-cleft calyx, the segments 

 obcordate and entire. Himalaya. B.M. 6712, where 

 Hooker remarks: "The plant here figured is found at 

 lower elevations in the Himalayas than any other of the 

 numerous species that inhabit that rich region, occur- 

 ring between 2,500 and 6,500 ft. along the whole division 

 of the range which extends from Kumaon to Kashmir.'' 

 Also in Afghanistan. B.M. 6712. Gn. 41:863. G.C. III. 

 27:195. R.H. 1895, p. 400-1. Gt. 45:1424; 47, p. 221. 



3. verticillata, Forsk. Plant growing about 1 ft., bear- 

 ing yellow fls. in leafy whorls : Ivs. lanceolate or oblong- 

 lanceolate: bracts 1 -nerved: cal yx broad lycampanulate, 

 deeply 5-parted, the segments linear and entire: corolla- 

 tube about 5 times longer than calyx, the segments ob- 

 long and obtuse and emarginate and the base scarcely 

 contracted. Arabia. Probably not in cultivation, the 

 plant known under this name in gardens being the fol- 

 lowing : 



Var. Boveana, Mast. (P. Soveana, Decne. P. verticil- 

 lata, Hort.). Lvs. broadly spatulate: bracts 3-nerved: 

 calyx cylindrical-campanulate, with 5 deep dentate lobes 

 or divisions: corolla-tube 2-3 times exceeding the calyx, 

 the segments rounded and crenulate, contracted at the 



base, and sometimes bearing a dark spot in the center. 

 Mt. Sinai, etc. B.M. 2842. An interesting plant with 

 slender-tubed light yellow fls. about % in. long, borne 

 on slender pedicels in a whorl of sharp-toothed bract- 

 Ivs., the whorls 2 or 3 and standing well above the ro- 

 sette of sharp-toothed root-lvs. 



Var. Simensis, Mast. (P. Simensis, Hochst. P. 

 Courti, Hort.). ABYSSINIAN PRIMROSE. Taller, 

 and stouter, growing 18 or 20 in. tall, with root- 

 lvs. nearly 1 ft. long: root-lvs. oblong-lanceolate, 

 mealy: lower bracts oblong and 3-nerved, the 

 upper ones smaller and 1-nerved: calyx broadly 

 campanulate, the lobes deltoid-lanceolate and en- 

 tire: corolla-tube 3-4 times longer than the calyx 

 and more or less mealy, the 5 segments obovate 

 and entire, emarginate at the end, contracted at 

 the base. Abyssinia. B.M. 6042 (as P. verticil- 

 lata, var. Sinensis).A striking plant, with large 

 salverform yellow fls., the corolla-tube nearly 2 

 in. long. Whorls 2 or 3, many-fld. Not to be con- 

 founded with P. Sinensis (No. 7), a wholly differ- 

 ent plant. 



3. PROLIFERJE. 

 A. Flowers yellow. 



4. prolifera, Wall. Stout, striking species with 

 scape often 18 in. high : plant green, not mealy : 

 Ivs. many, long - oblanceolate, often more than 1 ft. 

 long, obtuse, entire or finely toothed: fls. in successive 

 whorls on the slender erect scape, pale yellow, the tube 

 much exceeding the short-toothed calyx, the lobes flat 

 and shallowly obcordate. Bengal. B. M. 6732. Not 

 known to be in cult., but inserted here to distinguish 

 it from P. imperialis, with which it was once confused. 



5. imperialis, Jungh. The noblest of cultivated Pri- 

 mulas, the scape rising 3% ft., and bearing five or six 

 whorls of deep yellow flowers of firm substance. Once 

 confounded with P. prolifera, from which it differs, ac- 

 cording to Hooker, in "the more robust habit, the thicker 

 texture, broader midrib, close reticulate nervation, and 

 bullate surface of the foliage and its deeper colored 

 flowers." The leaves are sometimes 1% ft. long; they 

 are long-oblong-oblanceolate in outline, obtuse, the mar- 

 gins beset with many small very sharp teeth, and the 

 surface much blistered and reticulated: fls. deep yel- 

 low or almost orange, % in. across, the tube % in. long 

 and much exceeding the short-toothed calyx. Mts. of 

 Java. B.M. 7217. Gn. 40:823. G.M. 34:758-9. Not 

 hardy north. 



AA. Flowers purple (or white). 



6. Jap6nica, Gray. Scape 1-2 ft. tall, bearing several 

 superimposed whorls of clear purple fls. : plant gla- 

 brous, not mealy: Ivs. oblong-obovate or spatulate, ob- 

 tuse, convex above, much reticulated, the margins with 

 small teeth: fls. 12 or more in each whorl, about 1 in. 

 across, the lobes obcordate, the corolla-tube nearly three 

 times as long as the short calyx-lobes, all the fls. promi- 

 nently stalked. Japan. B.M. 5916. F.S. 19:1950-1. 

 I.H. 18:69. Gn. 29, p. 382. R.H. 1871:570; 1895, p. 424. 

 F.M. 1871:537-8; 1872:9. -There are white-flowered 

 forms. Blooms early in summer to midsummer. Makes 

 a noble plant in deep moist soil and a shaded place. 

 Hardy at the North. 



4. SlNENSES. 



A. Calyx loose and large, often inflated. 

 B. Lvs. deep-lobed. 



7. Sinensis, Sabine (P. Chinensis, Hort.). CHINESE 

 PRIMROSE. Figs. 1951, 1952. Trunk short and woody, but 

 as known in gardens the plant is practically stemless, 

 the ample foliage and the strong short scapes arising 

 directly from the surface of the ground or very near it: 

 whole plant soft-hairy : Ivs. oblong-ovate to nearly 

 round-ovate, soft and usually limp, several-lobed and 

 the lobes toothed, long-petioled : scapes erect, several: 

 fls. now of many colors, several to many in an umbel, 

 large and showy, salverform, the segments obcordate: 

 calyx inflated. China. Winter bloomer, as grown in 

 greenhouses. B.M. 2564. B.R. 7:539 (as P. prcenitens). 

 F.S. 22:2334-37. I.H. 32:551; 35:42. Gn. 51:1124 and p. 

 469. G.C. III. 25:181,203,205. Gng. 2:91. A. F. 8:623, 



