104 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Thinking that the leading growers of Primulas in France and 

 Germany might be in a position to give me some useful notes 

 about the introduction of the Chinese Primula on the Continent, 

 I communicated with my friend M. Henri L. de Vilmorin, of 

 Paris, so well known to Fellows of the Eoyal Horticultural 

 Society ; with Messrs. Stuart & Co., of Nice ; and with Mr. 

 Fritz Benary, of Erfurt, all of whom were most ready to give 

 me any information in their power. 



M. de Vilmorin endorses what I have already mentioned as 

 the introduction of the plant in 1820 from Chinese gardens, and 

 the recent discovery of the wild plant by the Abbe Delavay. He 

 also describes the first plant introduced as having " a pale pink 

 corolla, almost flesh colour," and states that " the white variety 

 was the first sport obtained. The petals of the pink variety were 

 rounded, cleft in the middle, and heart-shaped if taken singly. 

 The trusses bore three, and even four, whorls of pale small flowers, 

 the leaves were palmate, and not fern-leaved." He also gives 

 the dates when the varieties of the plant now so well known 

 were grown by his house. 



Messrs. Stuart agree generally with M. de Vilmorin, but 

 name the spring of 1821 as the date when introduced into 

 England. They say "the original plant came from Canton, 

 where it had been cultivated for some time previously. The 

 colour was red," but they state that " the edges of the petals were 

 jagged or dentate, the foliage palmate, green on the surface, and 

 of a reddish tinge beneath." 



Mr. Fritz Benary, of Erfurt, whom I have known intimately 

 for many years, sends me a most interesting communication, 

 which, as it contains a report from a Primula grower, who him- 

 self sketched the plant in the Botanical Gardens at Hamburg 

 so long ago as 1837, I will quote somewhat fully. 



Mr. Benary says : " A small florist of Eisenach, named 

 Schwabe, was regarded as the raiser of P. fimbriata alba, and I 

 thought I could not do better than apply to him for some in- 

 formation on the point. He is a man of much experience, and 

 a good botanist. He has very kindly given me, as far as his 

 knowledge goes, the history of the Primula sinensis, and I tran- 

 scribe hereafter the salient points of his communication. Mr. 

 Schwabe writes : 1 Primula prcenitens, Kar-Gawler, was intro- 

 duced from China into Europe, probably into England, in 1820. 



