PRIMULA CONFERENCE. 



253 



WINTER BUDS. 



In Primula rosea, P. involucrata, P. farinosa, and P. rotundifolia 

 (herbarium spec), and probably in many other species, we find what may be 

 termed winter buds. In point of fact the stock in these cases decays away 

 almost entirely, leaving only the buds which form at its extremity, or at the 

 ends of its branches. These buds are made of dilated leaf-stalks densely 

 packed one over the other, like the similar parts in a " head of Celery." They 

 are furnished at the base with numerous root-fibres, very fleshy in P. 

 involucrata (fig. 26), fibrous in P. rosea, and which serve to supply sufficient 



Fig. 26.— winter bud of primula involucrata, with thick vertically 

 descending root-fibbes. 



moisture in the dry season. Carefully stowed away in the centre of the leaves 

 is the inflorescence, whose tiny pearl-like flowers may be seen securely nestling, 

 even in mid-winter, beneath their protective wraps exactly as in the case of 

 bulbs, or Cabbages in which the leaves " turn in" well. P. denticulata is not 

 so fortunate. In this plant the leaves spread widely and do not close up to 

 cover the inflorescence, the consequence of which is the latter is apt to be 



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