OBSERVATIONS ON INDIAN I'KIMI'LAS. 



P. cllipttca is a very similar species, except that the flowers are purple, 

 not rose-pink. P. Harrissii is an undescribed species collected by Dr, 

 Harriss in Chitral, and might be described as an intermediate form 

 between rosea and elliptica, but with the rich rose-pink flowers of rosea. 

 The specimens of it seen by me an; in the Edinburgh Herbarium. I', 

 liazarica is distinctly a near relative of P. ellijdica. 



P. concinna, though I have spoken of it as possibly an interloper 

 among the spurred Primulas, has been well named concinna and would be 

 an ornament to any collection of Primroses. The whole plant is not 

 more than one inch in size, but it grows in rounded cushion-like masses 

 amid the ice, stones, and sand of the moraine. I came across it on the 

 Kanglanamao pass in Sikkim, at an altitude of close on 17,000 feet. Its 

 delicate scape of rose-purple flowers, with their notched coronas of 

 yellow, might truly be described as constituting one of the most lovely 

 members of this charming genus. I can well recollect my feelings of 

 delight when I found a chaotic moraine; besparkled with these graceful 

 tiny flowers : they brought to mind one of my boyhood triumphs — 

 the discovery in the far North of Scotland of P, scotica. 



But, gentlemen, from what J have said of the spurred Primulas you 

 may have inferred that to grow them successfully it is essential that they 

 should be allowed to flower within the short space of early spring. For 

 the rest of the year they have as a rule to be protected from extreme heat, 

 and the best possible thing to do is to plant them on a sandy bank near 

 running water. Water preserves a more uniform temperature than either 

 earth or air. The aquatic plants of Bengal are in consequence far nearer 

 to the corresponding European types than are the plants grown on the 

 margins of the tanks. Conversely, therefore, plants that require much 

 water will bear translation from one climatic region to another better 

 than plants that grow on dry soils. Lastly it may be added P. Borwmillleri 

 is perhaps the giant member of this section. 



4. Purpurea (fig. 72;. — In point of number of forms this is the most 

 important section. There are some fifteen known species, with, under some 

 of these, numerous varieties. It is perhaps the most characteristically 

 Indian group of all. But the name purpurea is perhaps not so fully 

 representative as could have been desired. It is one of the oldest descrip- 

 tive names, but one that has been perhaps more obscured by conflicting 

 opinions than any other that might have been chosen. In point of 

 colour of flowers, yellow is very much more prevalent than purple, and 

 many of the species possess both yellow and purple states or varieties. 

 Then again as to the position assigned to the section, it might have been 

 placed as No. 5 instead of No. 4, thus bringing petioiaris or petiolate- 

 leaved forms into juxtaposition with the rosea series, which have often 

 somewhat petiolate leaves. So again the inflorescence of the purpurea 

 group is very frequently verticillate, a condition that becomes general, if 

 not universal, in the sixth section — JU/ribunda. 



The central feature of the purpurea series may be said to be the glabrom 

 mealy obovate-spathulate leaves, with their greatly expanded midrib forming 

 a sheathing petiole. Flowers large, mostly yellow, or purple or blue. 

 Corolla tube long, erect, inflated in the throat. The purple flowers are 

 either odourless or possess a heavy metallic smell, while the yellow- 



