150 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Chinese Species of the Malacoides Section. 

 Pale lilac-pink flowers. 



P. androsacea, Pax 



P. Barbeyana, Petitm. 



P. delicata, Petitm. 



P. Duclouxii, Petitm. 



P. Forbesii, Franch. (fig. 50) 



P. malacoides, Franch. 



P. multicaulis, Petitm. 



P. pellucida, Franch. 



P. pseudo-malacoides, L. B. Stewart 



P. Willmottiae, Petitm. 



The section I am now about to refer to contains species that 

 are disposed by Pax in his sections Bullatae and Floribundae. 

 There is no more natural group of Primulas than that which I name 



SUFFRUTICOSA. 



Section Suffruticosa. 



On the limestone cliffs of Yunnan grows a race of undershrub 

 Primulas of which we have in cultivation one — P. Forrestii, Balf. fil., 

 collected by Forrest, and introduced in 1908 by Bees, Ltd. The under- 

 shrub habit is a rare one in Primula. We find it in the American 

 P. suffrutescens, A. Gray, of the Cuneifolia section, and in the Chinese 

 P. dryadifolia, Franch., which by some characters might be placed 

 here, in others recalls the Soldanelloid section in which Pax places 

 it. The Suffruticosa section shows a considerable development 

 in Yunnan. We know eight species. They form massive stems more 

 than an inch across, ending in many-headed cushions of evergreen 

 petiolate rugose leaves, with or without meal. The density of the 

 cushion is increased by the persistence of desiccated old leaves. The 

 flowers, typically enveloped in leafy bracts, are in umbels on projecting 

 scapes or nestle amongst the leaves, sometimes one only on a scape. 

 The calyx is characterized by a woody base. 



P. Forrestii, Balf. fil., is now a well-known garden plant, not quite 

 hardy — in the north at least — more resentful of damp than cold. 

 Grown on a rockwork under glass it is a joy — the deep yellow of the 

 flowers set off by the bright green of the foliage — and it scents the air 

 with fragrance. 



There are yellow-flowered and pink-flowered species in the section. 

 P. Forrestii, Balf. fil., may be taken as typical of the yellow-flowered 

 species, in which too the umbels are carried well above the leaves. 

 P. bullata, Franch., and P. rufa, Balf. fil., are its comrades ; both 

 have golden meal, in the latter associated with hairiness, which is absent 

 in the former. P. pseudobracteata, Petitm., is a like form without 

 meal. Of the pink-flowered species P. Monbeigii, Balf. fil., and 

 P. Dubernardiana, G. Forrest, have flowers much larger than those 

 in other members of the group. P. Henrici, Bur. et Franch., has a 

 single flower on the scape. I have not seen the plant and am not sure 

 that it is rightly placed here. As elsewhere in the genus, this section 

 has an Indian representation— not in the nearer area of the Eastern 



