THE 
FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
February 1, 1842. 
PRXMXJLACEiE,-—- 
THE AURICULA, AND ITS KINDS AND CHARACTERS. 
Primulaceje, the name of this order of plants, is derived from 
Primula, the primrose, vdiich gets that name from its early 
flowering, being among the first flowers of the spring, and also 
the most common of all the order, as a native of Britain. There 
are a good many genera, though many more species and varieties; 
and the majority of them are natives of Europe, though there are 
several in Northern Asia and North America: but in the tropical 
latitudes, and to the southward, there are none. 
With few exceptions, they are all hardy plants, and do not 
require either a stove or a bottom heat—indeed most of them are 
injured by either. In Britain, there are three domestic species,— 
1st, the primrose, which is naturally of a beautiful straw colour, 
but changes to other shades, generally of red or lilac. The leaves 
of all are close by the ground; and, in the primrose, each flower 
rises, from the root, on a distinct footstalk. 2d. The cowslip, 
which is larger in its flowers than the primrose, naturally of a 
bright yellow, but breaking into various colours ; and the flowers 
rise on a single stem, forming a truss, which gives the plant a 
much more showy appearance than the primrose. 3d. The oxlip 
which is much larger than the cowslip, and rises still higher in the 
stem. It breaks, by culture, into many more colours than either 
of the other two ; and those colours are often rich and finely 
diversified in the same floret. In this state, it is the Polyanthus 
.of growers, and is the only British member of the order which is 
VOL. hi. ho. II. E 
