THE CULTURE AND CLASSIFICATION OF PRIMULAS. 53 
will be thought to run the foregoing very close, and to need 
inclusion in any selection of the best. 
Passing from that group we come to a most recommendable 
plant in either P. sjiectahilis , P. CUisiana, or P. Wnlfeninna. 
One is humbly thankful that, at last, these three kinds, formerly 
regarded as botanically distinct, are now generally classed under 
spectabilis or its varieties. They are from the S. Austrian or 
N. Italian Alps, and the colour rose-purple, sometimes very 
rich. Wulfen's Primrose is the sm_aller form, P. Clusiana, the 
largest. They seem of easy culture. 
P. calycina, alias glaucescens, from the same regions, and 
rather in the same way, as another easily grown, smooth- 
leaved species, may well be added next. 
Last, though far from least, let me name for completion of 
this collection No. 1, that perhaps most satisfactory of all, for 
either open-air rockery or frame, the charming Primula margin- 
ata of the Maritime Alps ; not, of course, to be confounded with 
the quite different P. Aurictila marginata, which comes from far 
more northerly habitats. 
It abounds on the Sea Alps, and this time last year I 
collected some plants on the Gramont behind Mentone. As a 
show plant, or rather as a Primula show plant, it has one 
weak point in common with P. viscosa nivalis, P. villosa, and 
P. rosea, viz. that in the South at least these all bloom so 
early that it is often difficult to retard them until the middle of 
April. But for this very reason these four kinds are invaluable 
to lovers of the earlier Alpines. 
Of this P. marginata there are several varieties besides the 
type. One, often called, not quite happily, ccerulea, has a purple- 
blue flower, the blue predominating in the bud, but later 
degenerating. There is a larger-flowered form called grandiflora, 
and still finer seedlings raised by Dr. Stuart and my friend 
Mr. Boyd. Foliage and habit vary greatly in the several 
varieties. This particular species, in as many of its best 
varieties as are to be had, must, in my judgment, be placed 
among the best and most easily grown Alpine plants in culti- 
vation. 
So much for my first " Baker's " dozen. They are a homo- 
geneous and even " set," differing sufficiently in character to be 
varied, but agreeing enough to be a thoroughly " congruous " 
exhibit. 
