3 74 Primulacea Primula. 



Nos. 1, 2, and 3 are sufficiently explanatory. Selfs are those 

 double or single-flowered varieties with a uniformly yellow, 

 purple-brown, purple, or violet limb and a white eye. Alpines 

 are distinguished by having the margin of two blended colours, 

 or at least by their not being separated into distinct bands, and 

 by the yellow centre. 



5. P. Japonica. Japanese Primrose. This is a very handsome 

 hardy species of quite recent introduction. It is glabrous in 

 all its parts, having large oblong-spathulate coarsely irregularly 

 and sharply-toothed sessile leaves, and tall scapes from 1 to 2 

 feet high bearing about 5 or 6 whorls of showy variously- 

 coloured flowers about an inch in diameter. There are 

 crimson, maroon, lilac, rosy-pink, and white varieties with a 

 differently coloured eye already in cultivation. If easily grown 

 there is no doubt that this species will rapidly spread, as it is 

 one of the most beautiful of dwarf hardy perennials. It is a 

 native of the island of Yeso. 



6. P. farinosa. Bird's-eye Primrose. This is a mountain 

 plant of wide distribution, occurring in the North of England 

 and in Scotland. It grows from 4 to 6 inches high, with small 

 obovate-spathulate leaves clothed with a white or yellow mealy 

 indumentum on the under surface. Scape exceeding the leaves, 

 and bearing an umbel of small lilac-red flowers with a yellow eye. 



P. Scotica, found in the extreme North of Scotland, differs 

 in its broader petals. 



We might include several more species if we had the space 

 at our disposal, but we must be content with quoting the 

 names of a few of the best. They are for the greater part 

 mountain plants, requiring special care and treatment. 



P. cortusoldes, rosy flowers, Siberia ; P. minima, rose and 

 white, Alps ; P. Munroi, tall, white, North India; P. villosa, 

 purple, Alps ; and P. amcena, bright rosy-purple umbellate 

 flowers, from the Caucasus. The last is a particularly hand- 

 some plant. 



2. ANDROSACE. 



A genus of diminutive annual or perennial scapose tufted 

 herbs, natives of mountainous regions. They agree in most 

 characters with Primula, differing in the tube of the corolla 

 being constricted towards the top. There are almost a dozen 

 species in the Swiss Alps, and a few others scattered over the 

 North of Asia and America. Name from dvtjp, a male, and 

 , a buckler, referring to the shape of the anther. 



