2 4 



FLORA AND SYLVA. 



sturdier, and its flowers richer and more lasting 

 than when grown in heat. Pot-grown plants 

 are indeed all the better for several months in 

 the open during summer, and should be well 

 set with buds before being brought inside. It 

 does best planted out, growing with greater 

 luxuriance, and easily adapted to any light airy 

 spot under glass. Its flowers are very large (about 

 5 inches across) of the richest violet-blue, shad- 

 ing to purple as they mature, and coming as a 

 succession during many weeks from November 

 to early spring. 



T. m. fioribunda. — Handsome as is the last 

 named, this variety is yet finer, with a dwarfer 

 growth and flowers larger and more free. They 

 are borne almost constantly, even upon small 

 pot-plants, while on strong bushes the blooms 

 sometimes measure nearly 18 inches round. 

 The flowers are rather deeper in colour than 

 in the type, the leaves are rougher, and the 

 growth is more compact and better suited to a 

 small space or to pot culture ; it is, however, 

 less robust, fearing exposure even in summer, 

 and needing more heat and some shade during 

 the hottest weather. 



T. marmorata. — This is a garden variety, 

 forming a bushy shrub remarkable for the 

 creamy-white blotches upon its dark green oval 

 leaves ; its fine flowers are of bluish-purple. 



T. meiodon. — A loose rambling shrub smal- 

 ler in all its parts than those described, with 

 oval leaves of about an inch long and many 

 purple flowers half-an-inch across. 



T. sarmentosa. — A cool grown greenhouse 

 shrub from the mountains of Peru, with long 

 trailing branches bearing oval, short-stalked 

 leaves, and large violet or purple flowers nearly 

 3 inches across. 



T. semidecandra. — A stout rambling shrub 

 reaching a height of many feet, with narrow 

 silky leaves with prominent veins and densely 

 hairy beneath ; angular branches of a light 

 warm brown. Its large purple flowers are com- 

 posed of rounded petals, with darker vein- 

 ings and reddish-purple stamens. The purple- 

 shaded calyx is clothed with dense lustrous 

 hairs, extending as silvery down to every part 

 of the young growths. A free-blooming kind, 

 vigorous, and with a long season of bloom, 

 growing well in a cool-house or conservatory. 

 Syn. T. Kunthiana. 



T. villosa. — Alow-growing-shrub clothed 

 with silky down in all its parts, and bearing, 

 | during early summer, rosy-pink flowers in 

 sparse clusters. 



THE PRIMULAS * 

 Of all our mountain plants the Primulas 

 are the most characteristically alpine. 



! They form an attractive group often 

 fine in colour and of peculiar value for 

 the rock-garden. They take up little 

 space and flower for the most part in 

 early spring, while their variety of form 

 ofTers a wide range of beauty. They are 

 almost all perennials, including such 

 kinds as P. malacoides and P. Forbesi 

 (plants of Yunnan, which are often 

 grown and spoken of as annuals), and 

 nearly all are hardy in England. While 

 most sorts are of easy culture, there are 

 some, particularly the more alpine kinds, 

 that are difficult to growexcept inchosen 

 spots of the rock-garden in which they 

 find some approach to their natural con- 

 ditions of growth. With two exceptions 

 the Primulas are strictly confined to the 

 northern hemisphere, these exceptions 

 being the Magellan Primrose {P. ma- 

 gellanicus), a plant akin to our native 

 Bird's-Eye Primrose, and a native of the 

 extreme limits of South America; and 

 the Java Primrose (P. pro lifer a), found 

 in the East Indian Islands, and nearly 

 related to the P. imperialis of Bengal. 

 Throughout their vast area the Primula 

 seeks everywhere the mountain fast- 

 nesses with their freshness and pure 

 skies. Though not in general difficult 

 to raise from seed, these are often slow 

 to germinate, the more so if not fresh. 

 The culture of such common garden 



: plants as the forms of Chinese and 



* With coloured plate of P. megasafolia from a drawing by H. G. Moon, at War ley Place. 



