4 History of Pi'imula 



I am informed by Mr A. W. Sutton that the pure white variety 

 first appeared with his firm in 1899. The next reference to the white- 

 flowered plant is in 1904, when a plant figured in the Gardeners 

 Chronicle^ is described as having " white flowers or as nearly white 

 as possible." Mr Gumbleton also in this year sent "almost white" 

 flowers to the editor of The Garden'^ raised from seed obtained from 

 Messrs Haage and Schmidt. Further a group of P. obconica alba was 

 shown by Messrs Veitch at the Temple Show that same year, and it 

 was remarked that ..."never before had been seen so near an approach 

 to pure white''." 



P. obconica has been largely grown by Her Grace Adeline, Duchess 

 of Bedford, and has been the subject of numerous experiments by 

 the head gardener, Mr Dickson. I am indebted to Her Grace for 

 affording me every facility for obtaining information about the culti- 

 vation of the plant at Chenies. The first white P. obconica arose there 

 in 1903, and its origin would appear to be independent from the white 

 forms previously mentioned since it is alleged that no admixture from 

 outside sources has taken place. In present day collections the white- 

 flowering varieties can usually be easily distinguished by the darker 

 tint of green in their leaves, and by their more delicate and paler 

 stems. Messrs Veitch have a fine strain of this plant, very similar to 

 those raised by Mr Dickson and others. The variety includes both 

 toothed and fimbriated flowers and is found to come true from seed 

 (Plate I, figs. 15, 16, 19, 20). 



Rose variety. A very distinct break in colour and one of the 

 earliest to arise was started with the development of the rose colour 

 from the original pale lilac and this yielded the remarkable rose-carmine 

 series which includes some of the most striking of our modern varieties. 



Mr Sutton informs me that the first break from the original lilac 

 was a good rose-pink, seed of which was offered by their house as 

 P. obconica rosea* in 1895, and a variety under this name was exhibited 

 at a meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society early in 1896 and was 

 said to be an " undoubtedly most decided break in point of colour." 

 Otlier references are to be found in The Garden about this time* 

 (cf. Plate I, figs. 3—5). In 1897 Mr T. S. Ware« also showed a variety 



1 Gard. Chron. 1904, p. 244, Fig. 103, p. 245. 



2 The Garden, 1904, January 9, p. 18, see also I. c. April 7, p. 304. 



3 ..T." in The Garden, July 2, 1904, p. 3. 



* The Garden, February 20, 1897, p. 143 "E. J." 



5 The Garden, November 7, 1896, p. 383, see also August 7, 1897, p. 110. 



6 The Garden, March 13, 1897, p. 197, March 20, 1897, p. 216. 



