100 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



beheld it carries within his bosom ever after a glad recollection and 

 an unappeasable longing. 



I have been asked to confine what I have to say on this occasion 

 to the Primulas of the European Continent. There are few of them 

 that I have not grown, or done my best to grow, and though I cannot 

 profess to speak with the authority of an expert on their botanical 

 characters or distinctions a short account of my experiences in their 

 cultivation may not be without some degree of interest or profit 

 to some now hearing me. 



Among the earliest of the spring flowers in our gardens are the 

 varieties of Primula vulgaris, or as Fletcher and Shakespeare 

 beautifully allude to it in the " Two Noble Kinsmen " : — 



11 Primrose, first-born child of Ver, 

 Merry Springtime's harbinger ! " 



No true horticulturist can afford to neglect the cultivation of 

 this beautiful class of plants. Their varying hues impart a charm 

 to our gardens at a time when colour is most needed and appreciated. 

 Apart, however, from their beauty they have also a claim on the 

 gardener's skill on account of the diversity of treatment to which they 

 lend themselves. In sun or shade, in the rock garden or in the flower 

 border, they are equally at home and equally attractive. 



So much by way of introduction. 



European Primulas. — For the sake of convenience, and following 

 Pax * and other recent botanical authorities, we may divide the 

 European Primulas into three great sections, namely : — 



(1) Vernales. 



(2) Farinosae. 



(3) Auricula. 



Section Vernales. 



The three commonest of our native species fall to be treated under 

 this section, P. elatior, P. officinalis, and P. vulgaris. 



P. elatior, or the common Oxlip, which in its wild state grow 

 profusely in Suffolk, Cambridge, and Essex, but is much less common 

 in other parts of the British Isles. It has, however, a wide distribution 

 in the cooler regions of the North Temperate Zone. This plant, which 

 carries a number of pale yellow scentless flowers, borne in peduncled 

 umbels, usually reaches perfection in April or May. It resembles the 

 cowslip, P. officinalis, in so far as the inflorescence takes the umbellate 

 form, but it differs from it in the important particulars that the blooms 

 are more or less upright and the throat of the corolla is open without 

 folds. The calyx is also more villous. By way of comparison or 

 distinction it is interesting to note that bosses, which are entirely 

 absent in this species, are present in the corolla of both the common 

 primrose and cowslip. There are several varieties of this species, 

 * See pp. 219, 222. 



