PRIMULA CONFERENCE. 



105 



flowers when produced are fairly abundant. In the cultivation of this 

 plant it should be borne in mind that it thrives best in good loamy 

 soil, to which some peat and sand have been added. Those who 

 wish to be successful with it in cold districts should keep it under glass 

 during the winter months, in an airy situation with plenty of light. 

 If grown in the open a sheltered nook in the rock garden facing west 

 suits its requirements best. P. Palinuri emits a strong cowslip odour. 

 It flowers in May. 



Subsection (2), Brevibracteatae, is composed of three species : 

 P. marginata, P. carniolica, and P. viscosa. Their general characteristics 

 are soft, pulpy, dentate or entire leaves, bracts short and broad, calyx 

 short, with flowers violet or rose-coloured, occasionally white. 



P. marginata is an abundant species in the Cottian and Maritime 

 Alps. As a cultivated garden plant it is often grown under con- 

 ditions that are not entirely favourable to its perfect development. 

 Although an accommodating plant, it is a mistake to attempt 

 to grow it vertically. Under such circumstances it can never do 

 itself justice. In its native haunts it invariably adopts a drooping 

 posture and hangs gracefully suspended over the rocky ledges of 

 the crevices in which it grows. If we wish, therefore, to get rid of 

 any incompleteness of development we must consider its natural 

 conditions of growth and give its long fibrous rhizomes freedom to 

 droop by selecting for it an elevated place in the rock garden. If 

 grown on the level, when the stems become long and lanky the 

 plants should be divided, and the separate pieces planted firmly 

 and deeply. The leaves are farinose. They are oblong or obovate 

 in shape and regularly dentate-serrate with a very distinct and 

 charming silvery margin. The scape is often 4 inches in height 

 and bears an umbel of from two to twenty flowers, varying in 

 shade from rich violet to pure white. Some forms are exceedingly 

 attractive. The bracts and calyx are both covered with farina. 

 The pedicels are broadly ovate, short and foliaceous, while the 

 purple-tinged calyx is bell-shaped. It is one of the easiest species 

 to grow, as it thrives in almost any soil. (Fig. 25.) 



P. carniolica is a constitutionally strong plant, both in its wild 

 state and under cultivation. Its occurrence is restricted to very 

 marked areas in - Southern Austria. Under cultivation and given 

 favourable conditions of soil, position, and isolation from a strong 

 sun, it will increase rapidly and produce its beautiful pale lilac and 

 white-eyed flowers in abundance. Its smooth, shiny, and slightly 

 waved leaves are in colour a pretty tinge of green with a cartilaginous 

 margin. They are obovate or oblong in shape, and taper gracefully 

 into a more or less short petiole, obtuse or subacute. They are 

 quite entire. The scape is frequently as much as 8 inches long. The 

 plant should be grown in turf, to which has been added a little leaf 

 mould, in positions where it does not get full sun. (Fig. 26.) 



P. viscosa (P. viscosa of Allioni and P. lati folia of Lapeyrouse) is 

 another strong-growing species. (Fig. 27.) Unlike P. carniolica, it is not 



