PRIMULA CONFERENCE, 



I09 



than the leaves, and carries a one- or two-flowered umbel of rose or lilac 

 flowers with white throats. It is found in the Illyric Alps and other 

 parts of the Balkan Peninsula. 



P. integrifolia (fig. 36) has the leaves entire, rather shiny, with a few 

 small clear glands, no cartilaginous margin, hardly sticky, ciliated, 

 elliptical or oblong in shape, almost sessile, more or less obtuse. 

 The reddish scape is one or two inches high, and carries an umbel of 

 one to three rosy-lilac flowers. I find this plant quite easy to grow, 

 but it does not always flower satisfactorily. It comes from the 

 Pyrenees and Middle Alps. 



P. tyrolensis. (fig. 37) has leaves of vivid green, densely glandular, 

 sticky, and having an unpleasant odour on being pressed. They are 

 small, about an inch in length, round or broadly ovate, drawing 

 abruptly to a very short petiole. The apex is rounded, and minutely 

 toothed. The scape, about the same length as the leaves, carries 

 an umbel of from one or two large lilac-rose flowers with white eyes. 

 It is found in the Dolomites, on rocks and stony expanses. 



P. Allionii is found in cracks and crevices on hard limestone 

 cliffs, in positions exposed to the sun, and in shallow sunless caves 

 between Cuneo and Nice, where neither sun nor rain reaches it. 

 The plant is of small habit. The leaves are from one to a little over 

 two inches in length, rounded or oblong, or oblong-cuneate, thick; 

 soft green in colour, somewhat oily, thickly covered with colourless 

 glands, and intensely sticky. The margin may be entire or very 

 slightly dentate. The flower scape is very short, being barely 

 perceptible. It bears an umbel of from four to seven flowers of very 

 large size, considering the dimensions of the plant, and of a varying 

 tone of colour. The variation ranges from deep rose pink with a 

 white eye to a faint flesh colour. The large flowers, which come 

 out in succession, one or two at a time, lie almost flat on the cushion 

 of leaves. It is certainly difficult to grow in the open, but if its 

 natural conditions are imitated the task becomes comparatively easy. 

 It is imperative to plant it in soil adapted to its nature. The most 

 suitable places are an expanse of gritty calcareous loam or a crevice 

 in the rockery in a piece of soft tufa in a perpendicular position. 

 It grows and flowers freely with me in a small cave facing west, where 

 very little sun reaches it and rain practically never, which goes to 

 prove that it must throw its roots out to a considerable distance 

 so as to get the moisture necessary for its existence. As a pot 

 plant P. Allionii does well, the pot being plunged in sand to the rim 

 or within J of an inch of it and kept in a frame. It does best shaded 

 from the sun. The plant may be increased by division or by cuttings 

 taken in summer. The cuttings strike fairly easily in silver sand in a 

 cold frame if kept close and shaded. (Fig. 38.) 



Subsection (6), Cyanopsis. —Only two species come under this 

 subsection, namely P. glulinosa and P. deorum. They have blue- 

 violet flowers. The leaves are sticky, fleshy, crenate, serrate, glabrous. 

 The bracts are long and foliaceous. 



