^ Violets, Primroses and Wallflowers $g 



P. pulverulenta) are perennial, P. Bulky ana being perhaps 

 the best. P. pulverulenta, sometimes with as many as ten 

 whole whorls of its gorgeous velvety crimson flowers, is 

 still one of the most beautiful. Then there are P. Beesiana 

 (purple with orange eye, i£ feet), which crosses so readily, 

 P. anisodora (deep maroon with yellow eye), found by Mr. 

 Forrest in Yunnan, at an altitude of over 10,000 feet 

 (it smells strongly of aniseed), P. Cbrysopa (scented lilac 

 blue flowers), and P. Littoniana (red and violet flowers 

 grouped like a torch), P. sikkimensis (pale yellow flowers) 

 from the Himalayas, P. pudibunda (the dwarf type of 

 P. sikkimensis, which Mr. Kingdon Ward found at an 

 altitude of 15,000 feet in Tibet), P. nivalis sino-pvrpurea, 

 also from Tibet, P. microdonta var. alpicola and Mr. 

 Kingdon Ward's No. 5746, with fragrant yellow flowers 

 powdered white ; P. chionantha (related to P. nivalis), 

 with drooping sweetly scented white blooms with a dark 

 centre and yellow tube flowering in May. The last is of 

 moderate growth (i£ feet), and likes a cool, rich, moist 

 situation. P. involucrata (6 inches) one of the early in- 

 troductions from the Himalayas, a true perennial, vei/ 

 free-flowering and vigorous, and with very fragrant white 

 flowers, is still one of the best of the scented primulas. 

 There is, I suppose, no flower which gives greater 

 pleasure to town-dwellers than wallflowers. To thousands 

 of country-bred folk, who have the misfortune to live in 

 cities, a bunch of wallflowers is a pleasure so great that 

 it is almost pain. For their scent transports one instantly 

 into the gorgeous sunlight of an old-fashioned garden, 

 and one sees not only the wallflowers but the lilacs in 

 full bloom, the peonies and lad's love, the flowering 

 currants and apple blossoms, and instead of the noise of 



47 



