204 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



short, erect. Flowers white or pink, 3-8 in a stiff umbel. In- 

 volucral bracts obovate. Calyx downy, large, twice as long as the 

 corolla, increasing after fertilisation ; lobes of calyx ovate-lanceo- 

 late. 



Fields on limestone soil. April, May. 



Distribution. — Only in Valais in Switzerland ; Southern and 

 Central Europe, Western and Northern Asia, N. Africa. 



Primula L. 



Leaves radical. Flowers solitary or in a terminal umbel, on 

 leafless, radical peduncles. Calyx tubular or campanulate, with 5 

 lobes. Corolla a tube, with an expanding 5-lobed limb, each lobe 

 usually notched. Capsule opening at the top in 5 teeth. Seeds 

 numerous. 



A genus widely spread in Europe and Central and Northern Asia, 

 containing many Alpine species, one or two of which reappear in 

 Antarctic America. 



Primula farinosa L. (Plate XX.) Bird's-eye Primrose. 



Stem 3-9 inches high, erect, leafless, mealy in the upper part 

 like the flower-stalks and calyx. Leaves radical, obovate-lanceolate, 

 narrowed into a foot-stalk, dentate or nearly entire, obtuse, gla- 

 brous on the upper side, white mealy beneath, rolled up when 

 young. Flowers in a crowded terminal umbel. Involucral bracts 

 linear-apiculate, serrate at the base. Calyx-teeth oval, acute. 

 Capsule longer than calyx. Corolla rather small, darker or lighter 

 pink, very rarely white, with a yellow eye. 



Damp, grassy pastures and meadows from the plains to the 

 Alpine region, up to 8200 feet, often in great abundance on lime- 

 stone. April to July. 



Distribution. — Carpathians, Erzgebirge, Eastern, Central, and 

 Western Alps ; Jura, Central Pyrenees, Northern and Central 

 Europe, Central and Northern Asia. British. 



Primula Auricula L. 



Leaves all radical, obovate or lanceolate, narrowed towards base, 

 obtuse, entire, or with a wavy or toothed margin, coriaceous, 

 glaucous on upper side, downy beneath and on margin with fine 

 glands, when young more or less mealy and rolled up. Stem erect, 

 leafless, glabrous, or covered with a white powder or mealy with 

 fine glands like the flower-stalks and calyx. Flowers in a terminal, 

 2-8 flowered umbel, stalked, yellow, fragrant, mealy towards the 

 throat, 8-10 lines in diameter. Involucral bracts oval, obtuse. 

 Calyx shortly campanulate, with short, oval-obtuse teeth. 



Limestone cliffs and perpendicular rocks up to 7000 feet, and on 

 rocky pastures at lower elevations in the sub-alpine district and 

 Jura. June, July. 



