AURIC'ULA, Primula aurkula, a plant of the same genus with the primrose (q.v.), much cultivated in flower-gardens. The A. has long been a florist's flower. It was highly esteemed by the Romans, and has, at least since the beginning of the 18th c., received particular attention from the florists of England and Holland. It is one of those flowers, the cultivation of which is often most sueee:sfuliy prosecuted in the little gardens of operatives near large towns. Lancashire is particularly famous for it.—The A. has smooth, dark-green leaves, stapes (or leafless stems), and calices, covered with a mealy powder. A similar fine meal appears also on the flowers, and adds much to their beauty. The A. is a native of the Alps and other mountains of the middle and s. of Europe, and of sub-alpine situations in the same countries. It is found also on the Cau casus and the mountains of Syria; it grows in shady and moist places. In a wild state, it has comparatively small flowers, of a simple yellow color, on short stalks, forming an umbel of generally six or seven on one scape, with the same delightful fragrance which aids so much to made it a favorite flower in cultivation. The leaves are used by the inhabitants of the Alps as a remedy for coughs.
By cultivation and art, the A. has been brought to great beauty and splendor of color. Red, pink, crimson. apple-green, and mulberry are the chief colors which the different varieties exhibit. More than 1200 varieties have been reckoned, and new ones are con tinually raised from seed. Some of them are entirely of one color, others of two or more: some are delicately shaded, and some variegated. The mere color of an A. is not of so much consequence, in the eye of a florist, as the form and shading. The chief requisites of a good A. are large flowers, so many of them on one scape as to give full ness to the umbel, the flower-stalks so strong that the flowers do not hang down; the scape itself must be so tall, that the umbel of flowers may rise completely above the leaves, and so strong as to bear it erect; the flower must be nearly round; the white or yellow eye in its center must be distinct and round, its color not mixing with the ground color, which, however, may mix at the outer part with the green of the margin. The
green margin adds much to the beauty of many varieties. The meanness of the flower differs much in different varieties.—The A. blooms in April and May, and often also a second time in the end of autumn, which adds to the charms of the flower-border, although it is to the first or proper flowering-season that the florist looks. It succeeds best iu a rich light soil, and cultivators diligently prepare for it composts of various kinds, but in general consisting chiefly of fresh loamy soil, and of well-rotted horse or cow dung, often with the addition of a little. sand. The finer varieties are always culti vated in pots, and require great attention. They are protected from the severe weather of winter, and during the flowering-season, from wind and rain. They ought, however, previous to flowering, to stand in an airy, sunny situation: Their delicacy forms a strik ing contrast to the natural hardiness of the plant; but few sights are more pleasing than that of a collection of choice auriculas, tastefully arranged. They are propagated by offsets, generally in the latter part of August.—When it is proposed to raise the A. from seed, care ought to be taken to select the finestflowers, which are encouraged to ripen their seeds by exposure to sun and air, hand-glasses being placed over them during heavy rains. The seed is sown either in autumn or spring, generally in boxes placed under shelter, or in a slight hot-bed. The more weakly are tended with particular care, as they are generally found to produce the finest flowers.
The name A., originally Latin, is derived from auris, an ear on account of a fancied resemblance of the leaves to the ears of an animal.