Volume II FEBRUARY, 1912 No. I 



THE HISTORY OF PRIMULA OBCONICA, HANCE, 

 UNDER CULTIVATION, WITH SOME REMARKS 

 ON THE HISTORY OF PRIMULA SINENSIS, 

 SAB. 



By ARTHUR W. HILL, 

 Assistant Director, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 



Primula obconica, Hance', was introduced to England from China by 

 Maries, one of Messrs Veitch's collectors who in 1879 sent home seeds 

 from the Ichang gorges, where the great river Yangtse rushes out of 

 the mountains. The plants raised from these seeds flowered in 

 September, 1880 2. 



In the Botanical Magazine, t. 6582 (Sept. 1881), the plant is figured 

 and described under the name P. pocidiformis, Hook, f, and in this 

 figure the petals are shown with a simple notch or indentation similar 

 to that of the common Primrose, P. acaulis. The wild specimens 

 collected in China and preserved in the Kew Herbarium all show this 

 character of the simply toothed perianth segments though they exhibit 

 a considerable range of foliar variability. In the description the plant 

 is said to have the habit and foliage of P. cortusoides (see t. 399 and 

 t. 5528) and the calyx of the Himalayan species P.jUipes — a native of 

 rocks at Chuka in Bhotan at an elevation of 6500 feet. 



P. obconica as introduced appears to have been a well-defined plant 

 showing on the whole but little variation and, except for slight diver- 

 gences in the colour of the flowers and character of the leaf margin, 

 to have remained fairly true to type for about the first ten years 

 after its introduction. 



The finding of the wild plant in China by Maries is best described 

 in his own words : — " When I was travelling in Central China, I was 



» Joum. Bot. 1880, p. 234. 

 » Horttu Veitehii, pp. 82 and 292. 

 Joam. of Ckn. u 1 



