Those of the
_brevistylis_ are therefore broader and more swollen. It is quite easy
to distinguish the individuals by this striking character alone,
although it differs from the parent in other particulars.
The leaves of the _O. brevistylis_ are more rounded at the tip, but the
difference is only pronounced at times, slightly in the adult rosettes,
but more clearly on the growing summits of the stems and branches. By
this character, the plants [531] may be discerned among the others, some
weeks before the flowers begin to show themselves. But the character by
which the plants may be most easily recognized from a distance in the
field is the failure of the fruits. They were found there nearly every
year in varying, but always small numbers.
Leaving the short-styled primrose, we come now to the last of our group
of retrograde varieties. This is the _O. nanella_, or the dwarf, and is
a most attractive little plant. It is very short of stature, reaching
often a height of only 20-30 cm., or less than one-fourth of that of the
parent. It commences flowering at a height of 10-15 cm., while the
parent-form often measures nearly a meter at this stage of its
development. Being so very dwarfed the large flowers are all the more
striking. They are hardly inferior to those of the _lamarckiana_, and
agree with them in structure.
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