The Yellow Auricula 



(PRIMULA AURICULA) 



DIRECTLY the snow melts up come the Auriculas, but only 

 on limestone soil. The Auricula is really a spring plant, 

 and usually flowers in May, but where protected by slowly 

 melting masses of snow it may not bloom till much later ; 

 the accompanying photograph was taken in July. The thick, 

 dense root-stock penetrates deep into the clefts of the rock. 

 The leaves are smooth, rather fleshy, and of a bluish-green 

 colour. The upper surface of the leaves, the flower-stalk 

 and the calyx are covered with a white mealy substance. 

 The leaves appear to serve the plant as a means of absorbing 

 or storing water. Although the thick, dense cuticle usually 

 present on leaves which have this function is here absent, 

 they are found to dry up very slowly. It is probable that 

 the thick cellulose walls between the individual cells replace 

 the cuticle in the leaves of this plant. The flowers give 

 forth a pleasant odour, something like that of the cowslip, 

 but rather sweeter. Like the flowers of the primrose, they 

 are of two kinds. The one has a long stigma which projects 

 as far as the opening of the flower, and short stamens, and 

 the converse is the case in the other. The object of this 

 arrangement is to facilitate the pollination of the flowers by 

 the agency of insect visitors as they pass from the one type 

 to the other. Darwin found that very few seeds were 

 formed when the flowers were self-fertilised. 



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