102 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



distinct scape 3 to 4 inches long with an umbel of violet-blue flowers 

 and comes from the Caucasus. 



All the plants coming under this section I grow in good rich soil, 

 with a considerable admixture of leaf mould and with a northern 

 exposure. 



Section Farinosae. 



P. farinosa grows in its wild state in Northern England and the 

 Southern parts of Scotland, and is widely distributed on the Continent 

 of Europe. 



Both in its wild and cultivated forms it is one of the most beautiful 

 and attractive little Primulas we have. It is a plant that can be 

 grown with very little difficulty, as it will stand a range of temperature 

 from the warm Temperate to the Sub- Arctic. The two principal 

 things it needs are a fair amount of moisture and moderate shade. 

 It does well with me in ordinary soil in the open ground, where it 

 forms large cushions. I may have been fortunate, but certainly 

 have not experienced the same difficulty that some people say they 

 have met with in growing it. It seeds freely, and as the seed 

 germinates well there is little difficulty in keeping up a stock. I 

 must mention one failing, however : it has a tendency even more 

 marked than in other Primulas to throw itself out of the soil, and this 

 waywardness has to be watched and corrected from time to time. The 

 leaves are from ij to 2 inches long, ovate, spathulate, crenulate, 

 obtuse or sub-acute, glabrous above and farinose below. Rising 

 above the silvery leaves is a stout scape, 2 to 8 inches long, on which is 

 carried a crowded head of spreading flowers, the colours of which range 

 from pink lilac to white. Sometimes there is no scape — var. acaulis. 

 The bracts are small, saccate at the base. The pedicels are usually 

 shorter than the calyx. There are a great many varieties of P. farinosa, 

 but they are of no use to the busy horticulturist. There, is, how- 

 ever, one sub-species or variety that I cannot pass without comment, 

 as, like myself, it hails from Bonnie Scotland. I mean, of course, 

 P. scotica, which flourishes in the pasture lands of Caithness, Suther- 

 land, and the Orkney Islands, and is also found in Lapland, Norway, 

 and Sweden. 



The flower is of rich violet-purple colour, the beauty of which is 

 intensified by its yellow throat. It is a smaller plant than farinosa, 

 the bracts are less saccate, the leaves broader in proportion, and the 

 calyx shorter. It has an unfortunate habit of damping off after 

 flowering, but as it seeds freely there need be no difficulty in 

 raising plants. One thing that has impressed me very much is the 

 difference in the way in which the seeds of P. farinosa and P. scotica 

 germinate. The seed of P. farinosa germinates soon after sowing, 

 but those of P. scotica lie dormant until the following spring. Out of 

 some hundreds of plants I had in flower last year all have died except 

 two or three which are growing on the rockery, and I see they have 



