On the Species of the Genus Primula in Essex. 189
occasions I have seen them so much developed that the five
leaves have been each 11/2 in. long, all the inner floral organs
remaining very small and aborted at the bottom of the cup thus
formed by the calyx. These solitary flowers often appear on
Fig. 4.—Plant of P. elatior, showing peculiarities usually connected
with "solitary" flowers, viz.—the "root-branch"; solitary flowers with
and without foliated calyx, associated with an umbel bearing leaves. An
umbel from the main root is shown in bud.
the same plant, both with an ordinary and a foliated calyx.
Whether this peculiarity is due to stimulation or not I cannot
say, but it is certainly very strange that it never, under any
circumstances, appears on flowers when growing in an umbel.
Possibly the variety which has leaves in the umbel may
answer to it in normal flowers ; and this seems the more
likely, as I have not unfrequently noticed that the umbels