PKIMtlLA. 323 



these pages, as we confine ourselves to the greenhouse kinds 

 only ; the species and varie^es given helow are invaluable 

 for the effect they produce as winter and spring-flowering 

 plants. The soU best adapted for these plants is a mixture 

 of about two parts good turfy loam, one part well-decomposed 

 manure, and one part good leaf mould, with a liberal addition 

 of silver sand. Amongst the many varieties of the well- 

 known Chinese Frimula, several very fine double forms have 

 made their appearance ; these are all well deserving special 

 care, although our pages will not allow them all to be enu- 

 merated. 



P. denticulata. — This very beautiful species has light green 

 spathulate leaves, finely toothed at the edges, and the whole 

 upper surface wrinkled. The flowers are lilac, with a yellow 

 eye, foot-stalks and calyx covered with a farinose powder, 

 produced in many-flowered umbels upon an upright spike, 

 during winter and early spring, and continue a very long 

 time in great beauty. Native of Northern India. 



P. sinensis (varieties). — This species has been lost sight 

 of, and only the superior varieties which have been obtained 

 by careful selection in our gardens are now grown as winter 

 and spring-flowering plants for conservatory decoration ; for 

 the drawing-room or dinner-table decoration, these are un- 

 rivalled. The Chinese Primula well merits the title it has 

 obtained of " Everybody's Flower," and is so well known 

 that a description of the plant is almost unnecessary. The 

 leaves are fleshy, with sinuated edges and hairy surface ; in 

 the original plant, introduced many years since, the flowers 

 were small, white or pale Ulac in colour, and the edges of 

 the hmb quite smooth, with a terminal notch in each segment. 

 Another variety with slightly fringed edges was afterwards 

 introduced, and from these, through the efforts of cultivators, 

 have sprung the beautiful forms now to be seen in gardens, 



