JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 8, 1880. ] 
31 
as long as the tube of the corolla. The leaves are winged to the 
base of their footstalks. In the Cowslip form the calyx-tube is 
wide and inflated, with blunt teeth, and much shorter than the 
tube of the corolla. The blade of the leaf terminates rather 
abruptly, and the footstalk is hardly winged. In those that have 
the Primrose form there are frequently a number of single-flowered 
stalks isshing from among the leaves, as well as those flowers 
which are borne on a seapigerous umbel ; whereas in the true 
Cowslip or Oxlip form the flowers are always in an erect umbel 
on a tall scape, which is sometimes very stout, and which arises 
from a rosette of leaves. The laced Polyanthus of the florists is 
no doubt also derived from the Cowslip or the Oxlip, and not 
from the Primrose. 
In discussing the subject of Primroses and Polyanthuses in the 
pages of the Journal one correspondent questioned the accuracy 
of the statement of another that some Polyanthuses sometimes 
become Primroses. I can verify that fact, and that some Primroses 
change to the Polyanthus form of flowering. These, however, all 
Fig. 8.—Cowslip polyanthus. (See page 30.) 
belong to the section which I have already referred to of Primrose 
Polyanthus. There is a very good instance of this to be met with 
in a Primrose which was raised a few years ago called “ auriculse- 
flora.” This is a Primrose early in the season, but after a time 
it throws up a scape with several flowers in a small umbel, so that 
it is not a true Primrose. A double variety which I have grown 
for many years under the name of “lilacina plena,” but which 
has appeared lately as a new variety under the name of “ margi- 
nata plena,” frequently assumes the Polyanthus form later in the 
season, though it has all the appearance of a double violet Prim¬ 
rose on its first blooming. I have also many more that disport 
themselves after this fashion, but I do not think an instance can 
be found of the florists’ stage Polyanthus ever assuming the habit 
of a Primrose or any other Polyanthus which has for its ancestor 
a Cowslip or an Oxlip.— Philanthos. 
Haedy Flowees. —In answer to the letters that appear in the 
Journal to-day with reference to my article on hardy flowers 
