152 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



most hardy. It was raised by Messrs. Veitch from seeds collected 

 by Wilson and flowered in 1906. Then came in 1908 a batch 

 of three species — the result of the exploration of Yunnan by 

 Forrest — raised by Bees, Ltd. : P. Giraldiana, Pax., which is the 

 true name for the plant of which seed was sent home by Forrest 

 with the provisional name of P. muscarioides , under which it was 

 published as a garden plant ; P. Littoniana, G. Forrest, is the most 

 remarkable of the three ; first of all because of the length of its spikes 

 — they reach sometimes six inches — and secondly because of its 

 brilliant scarlet bracts, which contrast with the lavender or rose- 

 lavender flowers; and P. pinnatiflda, Franch., a delightful alpine 

 with rich blue flowers. P. Watsoni, Dunn, was raised at Edinburgh 

 in 1910 from seed sent by Mr. C. M. Watson from Tatsienlu. It 

 is not a species of much horticultural merit. 



All these forms have leaves coated with soft hairs — a mark warning 

 cultivators that dampness in the winter months will be resented. 

 Our experience at Edinburgh is that they are difficult in this relation. 

 P. defiexa, Duthie, seems to be the most adaptive. Whether or no 

 it is that our insect life has not yet learned the way of these flowers, 

 we find that seed is not freely set except after hand-pollination. This, 

 in association with liability to damp off, seems to suggest that the 

 group is one that will not be common in cultivation in the open. 



True P. Viali, Franch., is a plant very like P. Littoniana, G- 

 Forrest, but smaller, and wanting the hairs of P. Littoniana, G. Forrest 

 — if they be distinct, and are not minor and major forms of one species, 

 as Dunn has suggested. I lay emphasis on true P. Viali, Franch., 

 because the P. Viali of Pax's Monograph is, as Mr. Dunn has shown, 

 a chimaera including — P. Viali, Franch., P. defiexa, Duthie, P. 

 gracilenta, Dunn, and P. Watsoni, Dunn. P. cernua, Franch., is a 

 species of great promise for our gardens ; its truss is large and the 

 flowers are a good blue. P. gracilenta, Dunn, the only other known 

 Chinese species of the series is not in cultivation and does not 

 promise to be of value horticulturally. 



Chinese Species of the Muscarioid Section. 

 Blue to lilac flowers. 

 P. cernua, Franch. P. Littoniana, G. Forrest (fig. 55) 



P. defiexa, Duthie (fig. 53) P. pinnatiflda, Franch. (fig. 56) 

 P. Giraldiana, Pax (fig. 54) P. Viali, Franch. 

 P. gracilenta, Dunn P. Watsoni, Dunn (fig. 57) 



Section Soldanelloides. 



From the Muscarioid section there is a natural grading into the 

 section Soldanelloides— that which contains the gems of the Primula 

 world. Imagine the limb of the corolla of one of the Muscarioids 

 expanding until it attains a bell-form and you get the distinctive 

 feature of the Soldanelloids. This transition is well seen in the two 



