Mother of Gardens
PRIMULA WILSONII
This tall primrose with whorls of bell-shaped flowers was the first species
named for Wilson. (It is recognized universally by its scientific name and has
no common name.) Wilson collected it from the high alpine meadows of the
Hengduan Mountains in 1900, during the first of four expeditions to this rugged
region of southwestern China. Of the roughly 500 known species in the genus
Primula, which includes many commonly encountered species in Western
gardens, nearly 300 are native to China.