314 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



flowered species have invariably a delicate sweet and refreshing odour. 

 It is a little more difficult to define this assemblage than some of the 

 others, but once seen it is easily enough recognised. The bracts are 

 numerous, never gibbous, but in the outermost whorl are often more or 

 less united together. 



The species may be referred to two geographical groups, and these very 

 nearly correspond to two sections that may be formed according to the 

 shape and condition of the corolla : — 



(1) Petals entire or faintly emarginate ; throat constricted but not 

 annulated. 1. P. purpurea, Royle, proper, and the variety or species 

 known as Moorcroftiana ; 2, P. Stuartii, Wall. ; 3, P. Inayati, Duthie ; 

 4, P. Traillii, sp. now ; and 5, P. sikkimensis, Hook. 



(2) Petals distinctly emarginate and often crenate- serrate ; throat 

 constricted and obstructed with hairs or by a distinct annulus. 6, P. 

 prolifera, Wall. ; 7, P. elongata, Watt ; 8, P. obtusifolia, Royle, and its 

 variety Boylei ; 9, P. Tanneri, King ; 10, P. Kingii, Watt ; 11, P. 

 Gammieana, King ; 12, P. Dickieana, Watt ; 13, P. Pantlingii, King ; 14, 

 P. Elivesiana, King ; and 15, P. tenella, King. 



Of this long list only four can be claimed for the North-West 

 Himalaya (but these are exceedingly characteristic and often very preva- 

 lent), two are dispersed into the Central Himalaya, and one finds its way 

 to Sikkim. All the others are East-Himalayan forms and constitute a 

 series by themselves, easily separated from the North-West Himalayan 

 group and one which attains its greatest development in South China. 

 It would occupy far too much of your time to attempt, however briefly, a 

 discussion of all the species indicated. I must content myself therefore 

 with a few of the more striking examples. 



Wallich was apparently the earliest botanist who studied these plants, 

 and he named one of them after Dr. Stuart of the Punjab. Unfortu- 

 nately, the sheet that is now accepted as Wallich's type (No. 606) bears 

 two plants, one P. purpurea, Royle, and the other P. Stuartii, Wall. 

 proper. Stuart's own specimen, now preserved in the Edinburgh 

 Herbarium, contains three very distinct plants. It has in consequence 

 become customary to speak of the forms indicated as different species : 

 Royle having been assumed to have picked out one of the two Wallichian 

 plants and given it a separate name, thus left the other to be P. Stuartii 

 proper. There would be no great harm in admitting that view, and the 

 names have for many years been so accepted. Unfortunately some 

 botanists regard Royle's plant as at most but a variety, so that, if that 

 opinion be adopted, the specific name for both, of necessity, becomes P. 

 Stuartii. From practical considerations I am not disposed to attach much 

 importance to whether two Primroses, long accepted as separate species, 

 which are easily recognisable from each other and have never, so far as is 

 known, been produced under cultivation from the selfsame seed, should 

 have the dignity of specific or only of varietal positions assigned to them. 

 But this much may be advanced in support of specific values, viz. that 

 the European and Asiatic parallel series, namely P. nivalis and its 

 numerous allies, have been for the most part accepted as species. In 

 the present instance a still stronger argument, however, presents itself, 

 namely in the fact that P. Stuartii is nearly if not quite as difficult to 



