2l6 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



speak of umbellate Primroses with pilose rotund petiolate leaves, we 

 indicate a readily recognizable and perfectly natural series, a series that 

 embraces many of the most charming cultivated plants that exist. 

 I need but mention the Chinese Primrose, with its endless varieties 

 and races, and the urticating P. obconica, to bring instantly to your 

 minds plants that would fall into this position. I am on dangerous 

 ground, however, when I venture to speculate, before an assembly 

 of practical men, as to what has been done or cannot be done by 

 hybridization. I feel that I am, however, safe in saying that it would 

 be most surprising to learn that P. sinensis had been successfully 

 crossed with P. farinosa or even with P. petiolaris. 



In Kashmir, Mr. C. B. Clarke collected the plant that now bears 

 his name. It is the most Western member of what I should like 

 to call the Indian Sinensis series, but it is not pilose-tomentose. In 

 Sikkim, Manipur, and the Naga hills P. Listen occurs, in Bhutan 

 P. filipes, and in the Shan States P. Forbesii — a species suspiciously 

 like some of the hairy forms of Androsace. These all possess subrotund, 

 cordate, pilose-tomentose leaves. The inflorescence is a lax-flowered 

 umbel (often verticillate) with long spreading pedicels, and the calyx 

 loose campanulate with broad teeth. That description may have 

 again called to mind P. obconica, and it is undoubtedly a close ally of 

 the series. Fortunately, none of our Indian examples have, however, 

 the evil reputation of that plant, but P. Listeri has a most remarkable 

 smell that brings to mind the odour of Geranium Robertianum. 



From these the transition passes (possibly through P. vaginata) easily 

 enough to P. mollis and P. geraniifolia. And these little-known but 

 charming Indian species at once suggest the European P. cortusoides, 

 the Turkestan P. Kaufmanni, as also the Chinese P. sinensis. In fact, 

 some of the verticillate forms of sinensis even, are suspiciously like 

 hybrids with P. mollis. 



This, then, is our specially Eastern series of Primroses. A few 

 years ago hardly any of them were known. I believe I was the first to 

 find P. Listeri in Sikkim. The year following I carried its habitat 

 further to the East by finding it in Manipur and the Naga hills. It has 

 since been found in Upper Burma, and I should not be surprised to 

 learn that it had been collected in China, but it would astonish me very 

 much indeed to hear of its being found in the North-West Himalaya. 

 The story of P. Listeri is true of most if not all the other round-leaved 

 hairy forms that have been recently discovered in Sikkim and Eastern 

 Tibet. They are more Chinese than Indian plants, and accordingly 

 Sikkim may be viewed as their most Western habitat. 



But we have another rotund-leaved series of Primulas that is more 

 Indian in character than those briefly indicated. The best example 

 of this is P. rotundifolia, and other examples are P. Gambleiana and 

 P. reticulata. But, as already mentioned, these are almost glabrous 

 plants. I cannot detain you by going into details regarding them, 

 but shall mention one or two facts. P. rotundifolia (fig. 102) practically 

 occurs throughout the Himalaya from Kashmir to Sikkim, at altitudes 

 of 10,000 to 12,000 feet. It is fond of a rich peaty soil, being usually 



