PRIMROSE FLOWERS 51 



of the primrose may presently make it a rare plant, 

 we may mention that few plants propagate more 

 freely. After the parent plant has finished flower- 

 ing we may find scattered around it any number 

 of vigorous seedlings, which we may in turn plant 

 out, and thus largely increase our store. We figure 

 the flower on Plate III. Primrose flowers vary a 

 good deal both in colour and form. Some are 

 almost white, while others are of a much deeper 

 yellow than the normal sulphur-tint. Some, from 

 the narrowness of the petal segments, have a 

 star-like form, while in others the flowers are 

 round in appearance, the segments being broad 

 and often overlapping each other. Another 

 curious thing to note is that on some roots the 

 blossoms have the head of the pistil plainly visible 

 in the centre of the flower, the stamens being 

 considerably below this, reaching, in fact, but half- 

 way up the tube ; in other examples it is the pistil 

 that reaches but this intermediate height, while the 



he had no special regard for primroses. Having had the 

 honour to serve as land agent to the late earl for many years, 

 perhaps I may be allowed to say that no one on the 

 Hughenden estate doubted his lordship's keen affection for 

 primroses. The woodmen had orders to protect these 

 plants ; they were cultivated in large numbers alongside the 

 walk behind the manor house, known locally as the ' German 

 Forest path ' ; and by the earl's directions (given to me 

 personally during the last year of his life) a clump of trees in 

 the park where the grass grew scantily was thickly planted 

 with ferns and primroses." 



