THE HISTORY OF PRIMULA MALACOIDES, 

 FRANCHET, UNDER CULTIVATION. 



By ARTHUR W. HILL. 



(With Plates XI and XII and one Text-figure.) 



The history of Primula malacoides under cultivation is of some 

 interest, as though of only recent introduction it has been very exten- 

 sively grown in this country and has already displayed a considerable 

 range of variation. 



The species was discovered by Pere Delavay in March, 1884, in 

 cultivated fields at Tali, Yunnan, a locality to which it appears to be 

 restricted, and a description of the plant was drawn up by Franchet in 

 1886 ^ The introduction of the plant to cultivation is due to Mr G. 

 Forrest, who collected specimens in the Tali valley in 1905 and 1906. 

 From the seed sent home to Mr Bully of Ness (of the firm of Messrs 

 Bees, Ltd, of Liverpool, for whom Mr Forrest was collecting) plants 

 were raised which flowered in 1908'-'. Mr Forrest records that it is 

 abundant in the Tali valley near the city at elevations of from 5000 

 to 7000 feet, and that it was thriving in rather moist sunny situations. 

 The illustration of a plant raised by Messrs Bees in 1908 is given in 

 Notes of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Vol. iv. PI. XXVII B, 

 and shews the slender, graceful inflorescences of the original plants^ 

 A figure of a more robust specimen is given in the Gardeners Magazine 

 for Dec. 5, 1908. The plant figured was shown by Messrs Bees, Ltd, 

 and given an award of merit at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society's meeting of Nov. 24. 



1 Franchet, in Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. Vol. xxxiii. 1886, p. 64. 

 "^ Messrs Vilmorin had received seeds in 1895 but they failed to germinate. 

 3 The same figure is reproduced in the Gardeners' Chronicle of Dec. 5, 1908, p. 397, in 

 connection with a short note on the plant by Prof. Bayley Balfour. 



