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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



succeed better as a rule in Europe than those from the E. Himalaya. 

 Partly on that account, but also in order to mark the existence of two 

 great Indian centres, I have assorted the Primulas of India within each of 

 the sections into (1) the N.W. Himalayan and (2) Central and Eastern 

 Bimalayan forms. And in passing I would observe that I have given 

 each of my sections the name of the Indian species that is most charac- 

 teristic of it. It might have been of more universal acceptation had I 

 employed the names of the European wild or better-known cultivated 

 forms, but I desired to concentrate attention on India as far as possible 

 and hence have chosen Indian names for my sections. 



With your permission, gentlemen, I will now discuss the more 

 striking examples of each of the sections formed by me, and at the same 

 time mention a few of the European species that will be found to fall 

 into these. 



1. Denticulata (fig. 69). — This is the most cosmopolitan assemblage 

 of all. P. farinosa, which is perhaps better known in Europe than the 

 Indian P. denticulata, is fully characteristic of the series and is its 

 English indigenous representative — the Bird's-eye Primrose. The flowers 

 in all the members of the series are sessile, purple to bright sapphire- blue 

 in colour, and have narrow funnel-shaped tubes. The head of flowers is 

 surrounded by a many-seriated involucre of bracts, the outermost more or 

 less gibbous at the base, but not spurred. 



They frequent gritty soils on grassy hillsides, or, in the case of the 

 smaller species, moss-clad surfaces of rocks and overhanging banks, and 

 thus appear like veritable sapphires set in green. But they grow singly, 

 or, if clustered, rarely more than two or three are found in the clumps, one 

 plant large and the others small. They seem to be annual or biennial, 

 when met with on land that during winter is covered with snow. When 

 seen in woods they choose open glades and are associated with species of 

 Anemone, Delphinium, and Ranunculus, &c, and are then perennial. 

 The N.W. Himalayan examples are P. denticulata, P. farinosa, P. 

 Hei/dei, and P. minutissima — the last-mentioned has heads of one to 

 three sessile flowers, while P. Heydei produces creeping stolones and very 

 distinct scapes. The East-Himalayan forms are P. capitata, P. erosa, P. 

 bellidifolia, P. glabra, P. pusilla, P. sapphirina, and P. muscoides, the 

 last being possibly the smallest Primrose in the world. 



The most abundant species is doubtless P. denticulata. At altitudes 

 of from 7,000 to 13,000 feet this is often extremely abundant. Within 

 its lower altitudes, say 7,000 to 9,000 feet, 1 have seen miles of country, 

 from March to May or June, literally rendered blue with its lovely heads 

 of flowers. In its higher altitudes, from 10,000 to 12,000 feet, it may be 

 got in flower as late as August. In spring the flowers appear before the 

 leaves, but are braced up by their large rufous-coloured scales, and a few 

 young curt leaves. But though I have looked many and many a time, I 

 never once came across either an umbellate or a single-flowered example, 

 nor could I discover an instance where the leaves showed the slightest 

 tendency to become petiolate. It is not uncommon, amid a mass of 

 plants rising to as much as a foot in height, to find dwarf states — perfect 

 in every detail and in full flower, the whole plant not exceeding H 

 inches in height. P. denticulata in fact, except in stature, varies 



