^ The Scented Cjarden ^ 



Auriculas, which are so nearly related to primroses, 

 were only introduced into gardens in the sixteenth cen- 

 tury, largely owing to the French botanist, de l'Escluse, 

 to whom also tulip-lovers owe so much. The Emperor 

 Maximilian II was himself a great garden-lover, and when 

 de l'Escluse accepted the Emperor's invitation to become 

 botanist at the Court of Vienna, he was able to spend 

 much time climbing in the Tyrol and Styria in search of 

 fresh treasures. He had a special affection for the genus 

 primula and naturalized P. auricula, P. glutinosa, and 

 others in his garden. He gave the name Auricula ursi 

 to these species owing to the resemblance of the leaves to 

 bears' ears. De l'Escluse sent roots to his friend, van de 

 Delft, in Belgium, whence they were spread, and early in 

 the seventeenth century they were already established 

 in English gardens. It is interesting to remember that 

 we owe their popularity in England largely to the 

 Huguenot refugees, who brought so many of their 

 favourite flowers with them. Their old names still 

 survive in different parts of the country. In Gloucester- 

 shire they used to call them * Vanners' Aprons.' During 

 the latter half of the seventeenth century auriculas 

 became quite a cult, and Samuel Gilbert, in his Florist's 

 Fade Mecum (1683), states that enthusiasts paid as much 

 as twenty pounds for a root. Samuel Gilbert himself was 

 an auricula enthusiast, and he gives great praise to those 

 raised by * Mr. Jacob Roberts who keeps the Physick 

 garden in Oxford,' also to those ' in the Pallace Garden 

 at Worcester.' He writes at length on their cultivation, 

 and of the many quaint little poems in his book, that in 

 praise of his favourite flower ' with their parti-coloured 

 coats and pleasing scents,' is perhaps the most attractive : 



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