April. 
f 
Pl. 30. 
"Fig. 6. 
.* A BOMPGEATORODY ~ | 
-.& PURPLE AURICULA, 
“We introduce the Student here to a large Fa- { The Leaves rife firft in a thick Tuft;) and 
mily, if he accounts the Gardener’s Products di- | while young, they appear round, whitith, and 
{tinct Members of it ; and fhall occafionally give | hoary. : | 
the Chara¢ters and Culture of the moft efteem’d As they fhoot out more fully, son eas ase: 
Wands ei ee leek au row at the Bafe, and lofe a great Part of that 
In this Place we are to acquaint him with the | loofe Cottony’ Matter which gave them the Ap- 
Nature of the Plant ; and the Origin of thofe ele- | pearance of Floarynefs. 3 ae 
gant Varieties. We have feleéted for that Pur- } Pull erown, they are very broad, rounded to- 
pofe, a Species in which the Leaves and Flowers ward the End, of a blueifh green, firm, flefhy, 
have their proper and diftinétive Marks moft con--| and indented uregularly at the Edges: they keep 
_ fpicuous, and from’ which Culture will be able, the whitith hoary Afpe@ on their under Surface ; 
as a common Stock, to raife many of the | and the indented Rib along the Middle forms a 
; ae: ) pacerdcn. a long Channel on their Surface. t: 
The Auricula, fo fpecious in our Gardens, isa} The Stalk is round, naked, perfetly ereét, 
native European Plant; and in its wild State is | firm, thick, and five Inches high. Its Colour is 
~ not without Beauty, Its general Afpect is fmall, | a pale green, often ting’d with vedith, and it is a 
| numerous ; they form an upright clufter’d Head, 
and with a bending Head of a few. yellow | little hoary. | ro ae b Agi or Ps 
Flowers: where the Soil more fuits, and other] The Flowers are large, beautiful, numerous, 
Accidents favour, the Flowers are larger and more : and regularly difpos’d : they are plac’d fingly on 
long Footftalks,. which «rife together from one 
- and their whole outer Part is purple; only the | Point at the Head of the main Stalk ; and fome 
the Form of dts higheft Perfection in the Field, 
Central Spot, or, as the Gardeners fpeak, the | ftand erect, while others throw themfelves alittle - 
- fideways : the Whole forming a 
| an agreeable Difpofition. 
- Their Colour is a deep but 
and the Eye is yellow. 
Eye, retaining its original yellow. 
large Clutter in 
It is in this State we defcribe and figure it, | 
glowing purple, 
and naturally its firlt Improvement from that State | Ge, 
in the Garden. | | 
_ The earlier Authors have confider’d the yellow 
and purple Auricula as diftiné&t Species, and call’d 
them Auricula urfi flore luteo, and Auricula urfi flore 
purpureo. oo } 
~C. Bauvurne, who calls them Sanicula Alpina 
lutea, and Sanicula Alpina purpurea, has his Fol- 
lowers. eds 4 
- Our Name Auricula, which Gardeners mif- 
~ pronounce Reela/e, and fome fpeak Ericula, is the 
firft Word in the old Latin Term, Auricula Urf, 
Bear’s Ear 5 the Form’ of the Leaf giving Occa- 
fon. | | 
Linn us joins the Plant, in all its Varieties, | 
to the Primula, the Cowflip Kind. He alfo e- 
~ duces. the yellow and the red to ‘one Species, as, 
no more than Varieties of Growth, and names 
the Plant Primula folis ferratis glabris: Smooth 
ferrated-leav’d Primula. ; 
The Gardener will be offended to fee his fa- 
vourite Family thus reduc’d to one original Spe- 
cies, and to the Condition of a Cowflip ; but in 
the Eye of Science, all will be found jut. The | 
Colour of the Flower, or Statelynefs of Growth 
cannot diftinguifh Species ; and, in declaring the 
two fuppos’d diftind Kinds the fame, and the 
Plant to have all the Chara@ers of the Primula, 
Linn us follows, with a jutt Precifion, his own 
‘Method. Peo: 
We have obferv’d that the yellow Auricula is 
f{maller, but no other Way, except in the Co- 
* lour of the Flowers, 
purple Kind. | 
_ The Root of this is a fmall browni{h Head, 
_ hung every Way with innumerable Fibres, long, 
thick, firm, and whitith. 
round Rudiment from which ~ it 
different from this larger | 
Let the Botanift now examine the Conftrution 
of the. feveral Parts; and the fame Refearch 
which fhews the ‘Clafs to which the Plants be- 
longs, will alfo fhew the Characters to be the fame 
with thofe of the Primule. - | 
form’d of a fingle Piece, and is tubular, rais’d 
_ by five Ridges along the Sides, and indented in 
five Places at the Rim.- 
The Body of the Flower is one Petal, tubular 
at the Bafe, and divided in the Edge into five — 
Segments; thefe are expanded and_ obtufe, and | 
each has a heart-like Indenting at the Extremity. 
At the Top of the tubular Part ftand five Fi. 
laments, in a-kind of rounded Neck = they are 
very fhort, but their Buttons render them con{pi- 
cuous : thefe are pointed, plac’d ereét, ana con- 
vergent. A fingle delicate Style rifes in the 
Midft, crown’d with a globular Top; and: the 
- 
Culture of this Aurtcuna. 
It is a Native of the mountainous Parts of 
Europe, where it thrives beft in a mellow Soil, . 
and a South-Eaft Expofurgy 
- The 
