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JOl'RNAL OF THE KOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



it had been collected in China, but it would astonish me very much indeed! 

 to hour of its being found in the North-West Himalaya. The story of 

 /'. Listeri is true of most if not all the other round-leaved hairy forms 

 that have boon recently discovered in Sikkim and Eastern Tibet. They 

 are more Chinese than Indian plants, and accordingly Sikkim may be 

 viewed as their most Western habitat. 



Bui we have another rotund-leaved series of Primulas that is more 

 Indian in character than those briefly indicated. The best example of 

 tli is is /'. rot audi folia, and other examples are P. Gamblciana and P. 

 reticulata. But, as already mentioned, these are almost glabrous plants. 

 I cannot detain you by going into details regarding them, but shall mention 

 one or two facts. P. rotundifolia practically occurs throughout the 

 Himalaya from Kashmir to Sikkim, at altitudes of 10,000 to 12,000 feet. 

 It is fond of a rich peaty soil, being usually met with in dry shade, such 

 as under shelving rocks in Rhododendron glades. It is a delightful plant r 

 growing in fairly large clusters, each stem being embraced near the ground 

 by large sulphurous scales. The under-surfaces of the leaves, as also the 

 petioles, are coated with white farina. Petioles long, erect, the scapes 

 nearly double the height of the leaves, becoming from G to 9 inches in 

 height, and bearing two whorls of bright purple-pink flowers with strongly 

 ma i ked yellow throats, and faintly but sweetly perfumed. Professor 

 Balfour writes me that they have had it growing in Edinburgh for the 

 past couple of years. It grows freely in pots, and promises to be an 

 acquisition. 



Its nearest ally, P. Gambleiana, occurs at slightly higher altitudes, 

 but is confined to Sikkim. It is a superb species, found growing almost 

 epiphytically on banks of damp moss. Flowers large, purple-pink with 

 yellow throats, constricted and annulated. 



/'. reticulata is the link of connection with the purpurea series of 

 Primulas. It is in fact much like a small form of P. sikkimensis, with 

 distinctly petiolate oblong cordate leaves, the scape relatively much 

 elongated, the corolla tubes narrow, much-exserted mouth, not annulated, 

 and the fruit ovoid, contained within the calyx. Professor Balfour informs 

 me that in the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens they have not made much use 

 of this plant. It has been grown for years, and is as easy of cultivation 

 as P. sikkimensis. 



But I have said enough. I have established fairly satisfactorily the 

 existence of a Sikkim series of round-leaved puberulous Primroses that 

 becomes still further elaborated in the mountains of Southern and South- 

 Western China. I have also indicated an Indian series of glabrous rotund- 

 leaved species. It is significant how persistently the presence or absence 

 of haiis on the leaves points to their origin. Given a glabrous Indian 

 Primrose, and I should almost from that circumstance alone hazard the 

 opinion that it had most probably come from the N.W. Himalaya. If 

 this is a mere coincidence it is one that runs parallel with many others. 

 The peculiarity suggestod may of course be indicative of climatic influence, 

 but, whatever its cause, it in many cases denotes forms that may be grown 

 successfully out of doors in England, whereas the hairy species almost 

 invariably reijuiro glass. 



0. Floribunda (fig. 74). — There is very littlo to say regarding this 



