May I, i8Sq.] 



Garden and Forest. 



209 



and glossy evergreen leaves, and very large funnel-shaped 

 white flowers, "flowering in a very dwaif stale and 

 alnnost always in blossom." 



The present species, as it is found growing in the deep 

 caiions of the mountains about Guaymas, is a shrub or 

 small tree, from two feet to ten feet in height. The foliage 

 differs from that of other species in being rather thin and 

 deciduous, instead of leathery and evergreen. The flowers 

 are numerous upon the young, slender branches, a pair ap- 

 pearing at nearly every node. They are pure white and 

 exceedingly fragrant, fannelform in shape, and nearly tliree 

 inches in leusdfth. The triangular lobes of the limb are 



beauty and fragrance of the flowers, and the free-blooming 

 habit of the plant make it very desirable as an addition to 

 our green-houses, and it will probabl)' prove to be hardy 

 in the Gulf States or even farther north. .S". W. 



Cultural Department. 



Notes on Primulas. 

 'T^HE result of the special Primula Exhibition and Conference 

 -'- lield in London in 1S87 has been to bring inider the no- 

 tice of liorticuUurisls generally a large niunber ot j)retty and 

 interesting alpine species which previously were ahuost un- 

 known, except to botanists. It also roused an interest in 



Portlnndi.i ptcrospermn. — See pnge 20S, 



folded edge to edge in the bud so that it is strongly angled 

 before opening. 



Normally, as in most of the allied genera, the parts of the 

 flower should be in fives, but most of the flowers in the 

 specimens examined have them all in si.xes, which may be 

 a constant character of the species. In not a few of the 

 related genera, however, the number of the corolla-lobes, 

 stamens, etc., varies from five to six and sometimes to four, 

 so that the variation in this case cannot be considered ot 

 any very special importance. 



The plant fruits freely, and seeds were obtained, but these 

 have failed to germinate. The surest and quickest mode 

 of propagation would doubtless be by cuttings. The size, 



many of the conminner species and races, especially in the 

 Polyanthus section ami in tlie Auriculas. The origin of the last- 

 named race has, since tlien, been the sul)ject of several very 

 interesting papers. Dr. Kerner, whose mvestigations on this 

 point are based on personal observation, and who, therefore, 

 is entitled to be heard with respect on the origin of the Auri- 

 cula, has arrived at views sometliing like the following : 



About the year i57oClusius left \'iennato settle in Frankfort- 

 on-the-Main;he began an activecorrespondence with noblemen 

 and others upon botanical matters, and in this \\'ay was con- 

 tinually receiving living specimens from the Tyrol, Styria, 

 Corinthia, Bavaria, etc.; a few years later he bewails iiis w;int 

 of success in taming these alpine Primulas, especiailv the 

 " Bianen .Speik " (/'.;,'/// //V/c.vi?), and the only two he really suc- 

 ceeded with were /'. Aiin'cu/a and F. pubescens. With tliis 



