Baby primrose (Primula forbesii Franch.)is a biennial wild flower
abundant in many locales across Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces
in China; the species exhibits desirable horticultural traits such as
long flowering season, plentiful flowers, and a pleasant fragrance.
Baby primrose was introduced into Europe by Vilmorin seed company
in 1891 but is rarely seen today (Richards, 1993). During our
glasshouse breeding of baby primrose using seeds from wild varieties,
we have found that improvement of this valuable species is
hampered by its high heterozygosity. Producing homozygous lines
by conventional methods is time consuming and difficult, because
the species is self-incompatible.