Common Auricula

Common Auricula (Primula Auricula) - In a wild state this is one of the many charming Primulas that rival Gentians, Pinks, and Forget-me-Nots in making the alpine fields so exquisitely beautiful. Possessing a vigorous constitution and sporting into many varieties when raised from seed, it attracted early attention from lovers of flowers; its more striking forms were fixed and classified, and it became a "florists flower." Its cultivated varieties may be roughly thrown into two classes—first, self-colored varieties, or those which have the outer and larger portion of the flower of one color or shaded, the centre or eye white or yellow, and the flowers and other parts usually smooth, and not powdery; second, those with flower and stems thickly covered with a white powdery matter or "paste." The handsomest of the first kinds are known by the name of "alpines," to distinguish them from the florists varieties, and are the hardiest of all. The florists favourites are distinguished by the dense mealy matter with which the flowers are covered. They are divided by florists into four sections—green-edged, grey-edged, white-edged, and selfs. In the "green-edged" class the throat of the flower is usually yellow or yellowish; this is surrounded by a ring, varying in width, of white powdery matter, and this again by another ring of some dark color, and beyond this a green edge, which is sometimes 1/2 inch in width. The outer portion of the flower is really a monstrous development of the petal into a leaf-like substance identical in texture with the leaves. The "grey-edged" varieties have the margin of a green leafy texture, but this is so thickly covered with powder that the color cannot be distinctly seen. The same occurs in the "white-edged" kinds, the difference being in the thickness and hue of the powdery matter. In fact, the terms "green-edged," "grey-edged," and "white-edged" are simply used to indicate slight differences between flowers having an abnormal development of the petals into leafy substance. It is a curious fact that between the white and the grey the line of demarcation is imaginary, for both classes occasionally produce green-edged flowers. The "selfs" are really distinct, since the outer portion of the corolla is of the ordinary texture, though a ring of powdery matter surrounds the eye.

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