April 22, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
307 
day were, with a dusting of white powder, several are described as striped’ 
and one as distinctly edged. The edged flower is called Honour and Glory ; 
it is said to have “ a good white eye, and the flower striped with a dark 
reddish purple on a white ground, so as to leave the edge of the flower 
white.” I repeat that this contribution to the history is important, because 
it not only places before us an undoubted edged flower, but it shows that 
the difference between stripes and edges was recognised. More than this, 
it shows that striped flowerB were much valued, for one called the Royal 
Widow was sold for ten guineas, but the value of the edged flower is not 
suggested. It would be delightful could we find in the winning stands of 
the present season an example of the edged flower of 1734, which was very 
different to Parkinson’s green with purple edge. As we cannot find the 
flower, we will look for Honour and Glory of a larger kind. Perhaps in the 
soundness of our work, and the sweetness of our tempers, and the earnest¬ 
ness of our hopes, we may be promoting a higher and wider appreciation of 
the Auricula, in which case honour and glory are secured, and we may safely 
proceed in the good old way, according to the sacred precept, “ Whatsoever 
thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might.” 
ORIGIN OF THE AURICULA. 
Let us now ask the question, Whence came the florists’ Auricula ? 
Charles Darwin, in “ Forms of Flowers,” page 43, derives it from Primula 
pubescens, which is represented as a hybrid between P. Auricula and P. 
hirsuta. Herbert, in “ Horticultural Transactions,” vol. iv., page 19, con¬ 
siders P. Auricula, P. helvetica, P. nivalis, and P. viscosa to have been con¬ 
cerned in the parentage. Indeed, Mr. Herbert considered he had raised a 
powdered Auricula from P. nivalis, which may be regarded as a white- 
flowered variety of villosa of Jacquin. As he gives no description, it is 
impossible to say whether his plant would pass for an Auricula if brought 
up for judgment here to-day ; but he was not the kind of man to make any 
glaring mistake, and his plant must have differed from nivalis to entitle it 
to such special mention. Mr. Herbert, at the same reference, suggested 
that P. Auricula, P. helvetica, P. nivalis, and P. viscosa are but varieties of 
one and the same species. To the list may be added hirsuta, pubescens, 
minima, and nivea, for in truth we are now trading in names, and we shall 
have to be careful that we do not mistake shadows for substances. In his 
“ Die Geschicte der Aurikel,” Professor Kerner avows his belief that Primula 
Auricula is not subject to variations, and that it probably did not keep a 
place in gardens for any length of time beyond the middle of the seven¬ 
teenth century. But then he obtains for the making of thegard.n flower 
the blood of P. Auricula and P. hirsuta, which he regards as the parents of 
P. pubescens; and from this last, a reputed hybrid, he derives both the 
edged and the Alpine varieties. Tbis proposal will not be accepted by many 
of the raisers of seedlings, whose experiences have rendered them familiar 
with the peculiarities of both classes. It affords but poor promise of an 
explanation of the yellow colour and the farinose decoration of the Show 
flowers, nor does it satisfactorily explain the shaded margin and the per¬ 
sistently naked leaf of the Alpine section. As regards the yellow of the 
Show flower, it does not appear ia its true proportions to the casual eye ; 
but if you will carefully wash away the paste you will find that it is laid 
upon a yellow ground. It seems to be the function of pa9te to play a game 
of deception. Kerner’s views have been partially approved by Mr. J. G. 
Baker, of Kew ; but he appears to lean to Primula Balbisi as a prominent 
progenitor, and he associates the edged flowers and the Alpines as at least 
not specifically distinct. The Rev. F. D. Horner, who combines experience 
as a raiser with knowledge of species and a fine faculty of observation, 
reckons Primula farinosa, P. scotica, P. marginata, P. intermedia, and P. 
viscosa as concerned in the parentage ; and probably he would separate the 
edged flowers from the Alpines as of different origin. 
Finally, I propose to you that we may with advantage regard the edged 
or Show Auricula and the Alpine Auricula as, for present purposes, specific¬ 
ally distinct. The general agreement of the Alpines is with P. commutata 
and P. pedemontana, the last-named being emphatically reflected in it. On 
the other hand, P. ciliata of Moretti may be associated with P. Auricula as 
eoncerned in the formation of the florists’ flower. 
But, after all, this is like arguing in a circle. The two that I have 
selected as begetters of each group are specifically one or two at the dis¬ 
cretion of the botanists, as they may take broad or narrow views. We are 
in the same plight as regards the Primulas as we were in regard to the 
Daffodils before the Congress operated, when, as you will remember, a great 
reduction of the species was carried into effect. I will venture now to say 
that the employment of names in the expression of our ideas as to the origin 
of the Auricula must be subject to the possible reduction of names by the 
Revising Committee. I can find a dozen or more so-called species that are 
possible parents of the Auricula, but as I question their specific independence 
I do not feel that making a catalogue is, in this case, the solution of a pro¬ 
blem in biology. As for Palinuri, I cut short the connection by dismissing 
it as a possible progenitor of Auriculas. 
CHARACTER OF THE AURICULA. 
Let us now make a brief study of an Auricula with reference to the 
facts that are before us. In certain characters it is constant. The leaves 
are stout in texture, often leathery, sometimes slightly cartilaginous. The 
flowers are always in a many-flowered visible umbel, never, like those of the 
Primrose, appearing singly from a concealed umbel. The floral bracts are 
short, never, like those of P. calycina, longer than the flower stalks. The 
corolla is distinctly contracted below into a tube and expanded above into a 
salver; it is never contracted into a cup or goblet, as in P. sikkimensis. The 
dusting with protective meal is not a distinguishing feature; but its abundant 
appearance as a decorative character of the exhibition flower is strikingly 
characteristic, and though it may be said that by long-continued crossing 
and selecting its appearance there may be regarded as the work of the artist 
called Man, yet his work is limited, not only by the capabilities but by the 
disposition of Nature. The powder belongs to the face of the flower, although 
its quantity and arrangement may be an exaggeration of Nature’s intentions. 
The show of yellow in the colouring of the flower is a constant character. 
This is a colour wanting in many of the supposed parents. It should be 
borne in mind that the flowers of highe-t quality represent long-continued 
and severe selection ; and therefore in an exhibition, or even in the general 
stork of the cultivator, we do not see the entire character and possibilities of 
the flower. The seed-bed offers the raiser many that he will simply destroy, 
because of their nonconformity to rules, and amongst the condemned will be 
many of the so-called fancy flowers, that have no body colour, and approxi¬ 
mate to the species. It should b; remembered, too, that all the edged 
flowers have green edges ; for although classed as green, grey, and white, it 
is only the relative density of the meal that makes the difference. It has 
been boldly declared that this green colour is a monstrosity indicative of a 
return of the flower to the status of a leaf, but we will defer the serious 
consideration of that proposal until we see the flower take the form of the 
leaf in addition to a touch of colour, which, from the florists’ point of view, 
is one of its distinguishing beauties. It would be more reasonable, perhaps, 
to regard the green colour as a remainder of the original colour of the flower, 
for, according to the doctrine that has found general acceptance, the flower 
should be first green and then yellow, with the potentiality of changing to 
red and ultimately to blue. 
Considering Professor Kerner’s proposal in connection with these facts, 
it may not be irreverent to say that it leads us nowhere. We are to derive 
two groups of plants that differ by larger degrees than many that are 
recognised as distinct species, from a parent plant that is a reputed hybrid, 
and that possesses only a few of the charac ers required. We are assured 
that the purple and marone colours that are so prominent in the edged 
Auriculas cannot be derived from a species known as affording only shades 
of yellow. Those who make the declaration evidently forget the wide range 
of colouring of the common Primrose, wherein we have almost every colour 
except true blue. Linnmus grouped Primroses, Oxlips, and Polyanthuses 
as forms of one species ; and that view, though for long repudiated, is now 
generally accepted, and the point is especially insisted on by Bentham in 
his “ Handbook of the British Flora.” Between yellow and blue there may 
be somewhat of a gulf fixed, especially in the variations of a species ; but 
from yellow to shades of red and purple is a transition far from uncommon. 
We have examples not only in the Primrose, but also in the Chrysanthe¬ 
mum, Hyacinth, Tulip, Pansy, Carnation, Hollyhock, and Antirrhinum. 
If you wander about in search of a source of the red and purple tones in 
Show Auriculas, you will never find means to account for the brilliant 
violet blue body colour of the variety known as Colonel Champneys, while 
others may be found that are apparently equally far removed from the 
possibilities of the botanical colom'ist. The truth appears to be that the 
colours we cannot by direct descent account for are in reality self-evolved, 
and belong to the category of changes that accompany and follow cultiva¬ 
tion. In ocher words, these colours, with other characters that might, with, 
equal reason, perplex us, are, in a certain sense, laid on by the hand of the 
cultivator. It is the fear of the botanist, who cannot recognise any merit, 
in his brother the florist, that prompts him to find in this or that flower 
that the hand of man has left untouched, the sources of properties that the 
florist has developed by long-continued cultivation in view of an ideal 
model, towards the realisation of which he is ever striving, but never 
attaining, though happy in the endeavour, and justly though quietly proud 
of what so far has been actually accomplished. To obtain the two great 
classes of Auriculas from Primula pubescens is a greater extravagance on 
the part of Professor Kerner than any florist has ventured on as yet; but 
the florists have discovered long since that seeds derived from show 
flowers do not produce Alpine varieties ; and, on the other hand, it is all in 
vain to hope for edged varieties from the seeds of the Alpine section. The 
general acceptance by the botanists of the proposal of Professor Kerner 
shows how much they need in their researches the aid of men who have 
acquired experience in the raising of new varieties of garden flowers, and 
in the management of garden plants generally. 
Parkinson, 250 years ago, had a green flower with a purple edge. That 
must have been in existence long anterior to the,writing of the “Paradisus.”' 
It is not extravagant to entertain the supposition that it had been in exist¬ 
ence hundreds or thousands of years before. In the same collection were 
striped flowers, and these appear to have increased until in the early part 
of the eighteenth century they abounded. Then, again, we hear of an edged 
flower called Honour and Glory in the year 1732, when Sir Thomas Moore 
described it. Since then the edged flowers have increased in number, and 
now constiiute a race that has all the needful characteristics of a species. 
The green has proceeded outwards to the margin and settled there ; the 
Btripes have moved in the same direction and formed a ring within the 
margin; and the farina has accumulated around the centre to form what 
is termed the paste; while a rich tone of yellow marks the centre, and gives 
accent to the green of the primal flower, the result being an arrangement of 
colours in four orderly masses, three of them in circles of definite geome¬ 
trical proportions. The Carnation offers a nearly parallel example, for hero 
we see the flakes of the flower moving outward to the edge to fashion the 
Picotee. It is like the action of centrifugal force, the colours appearing 
desirous of moving off into space. What is termed the thrum does not 
appear to demand special notice in connection with the origin of the flower, 
but I shall not seriously interrupt the study of the subject by remarking 
that Charles Darwin found the short-styled flowers the most productive of 
seed, and thus the taste of the florist in this respect is in strict accord with 
the frugal notions of Nature. The rich yellow of the thrum is another 
feature favourable to the flower, which is as hardy and vigorous as any of 
its kindred, although commonly represented by the traducers of the florists 
as a debilitated thingjthat requires a man and a boy to hold it up. 
The Auriculas naturally divide into two groups, the Alpines leaning to 
Primula villosa, the Auriculas to Primula Auricula. There does not appear 
to be any necessity for the admixture of Primulas that has been hypothe¬ 
cated for the formation of these flowers. The facts of history suggest 
that in all their more distinctive forms these two sections represent only 
two species, and that each in its essential characters is self-contained and 
self-containing. We have no proof at any time of distinct hybridity, but 
it must be acknowledged as a fact favouring the view of a considerable 
range of parentage that the allied species breed freely together. The 
Primulas that most often come into contact with man are, like him, of a 
sportive nature. The laced Polyanthus might perplex us with its golden 
edge, and there are many edged Oxlips in the present Exhibition, and some 
that display stripes and incipient edgings, and that are probably in a 
condition of change corresponding with the Auriculas of Gerard and 
Parkinson. 
