COMMONPLACE NOTES. 



329 



similar pieces of each were lifted and planted side by side with the 

 March-planted ones. These pieces were such that they had reached 

 the same development in March as had those then lifted. The new 

 buds were advancing and new main roots were just beginning to 

 develop. 



Every one of the March planted ' Argus ' flowered in October 

 of that year, but none of the others. 



The number of spikes of flowers produced by each set of plants 

 at the different seasons up to June 1915 is shown in the following 

 table :— 



Variety. 



Number of spikes produced. 



Oct. 1913. 



May 1914. 



Oct. 1914. 



May 1915. 



Argus . 



March planted 

 June planted 



6 

 0 



16 

 4 



O 



6 



58 

 32 



Gracchus 



March planted 

 June planted 



0 

 0 



43 

 14 



0 



6 



98 

 51 



Queen of May 



March planted! 0 

 June planted j 0 



6 

 3 



O 



29 

 4 



It is evident that the March planting gave better results in future 

 years than did the June planting, but it must not be overlooked 

 that most of the 1913 flowers were lost. 



Primula frondosa Janka. 



In 1873 Janka described a Primula, which he had found in the 

 Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria, under the name of P. frondosa. Subse- 

 quently a plant was introduced to gardens under this name and spread 

 widely wherever alpine plants were cultivated, for it was a robust form 

 with wide leaves, mealy below, allied to the popular P.farinosa, coming 

 freely from seed, and not a very difficult plant to grow. Pax, in his 

 Monograph of the Primulaceae (1905), cast doubt upon the identity 

 of the plant grown in gardens under this name, as it did not quite 

 agree in appearance in one or two points with herbarium specimens 

 which he examined. Monsieur Alaric Delmard, F.R.H.S., to whom 

 we applied in the hope of getting seed of wild plants, kindly interested 

 himself in the matter, and at his request Mr. Kellerer, the head 

 gardener to H.M. the King of Bulgaria, very kindly sent us a plant 

 collected in the locus classicus of the species for comparison with the 

 garden plant. We have grown this plant for two years at Wisley 

 in the Alpine House, where it has thriven and flowered well. It leaves 

 no doubt that the garden plant is correctly named, and identical with 

 that discovered by Janka. 



