On the Species of the Genus Primula in Essex. 185
under stimulation may be called an "irregular umbel," by
which I mean that the flowers do not all spring from one
centre, but some grow out of the stalk a little below the rest,
and, reaching up, mingle with them; or that the umbel is
slightly irregular in some other way. This variety sometimes
appears in conjunction with another in which one or two
leaves (rarely more) spring out of the umbel just below the
pedicels. Generally these leaves are about an inch long,
though sometimes more, and are situated opposite one
another. Presumably they are bracts abnormally developed,
as I have seldom, if ever, seen this form except under
stimulation. This variety seems to affect particular plants,
and two examples may often be found on one root. It is
not uncommon in the garden Auricula, but I never observed
it in the Cowslip. It often occurs very early in the season ;
for instance, I obtained an umbel bearing a leaf 21/2 inches
long on the 15th of March, 1882, before any of the other
varieties described had been observed.
Among the other minor varieties I may mention that I
have twice come across bifid leaves, both growing in the open
in Pounce Wood. The first was divided in two very near the
bottom. The second was on a peculiar plant I gathered in
March, 1882, which bore both a bifid and a trifid leaf, the
branchings taking place just above the ground; also a very
short thick peduncle about one inch high, supporting in-
numerable buds and three or four opened synanthic flowers,
having a great number of calyx-teeth, many petals, twelve or
thirteen stamens, and a large flattened stigma. I have met
with these monstrous flowers several times, but always among
normal ones, on fasciated stalks growing under stimulation,
and they have always been short-styled, like the flower last
mentioned. They are generally furnished with a large num-
ber of calyx-teeth, petals, and stamens, so that the opening
of the tube becomes a long narrow oval; I have also seen a
double-flower with one common calyx, the corollas opening
into one another at the side, and the pistil branching about
its middle, one branch going into each half. On several
other occasions the pistil has been abnormal—generally
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