Tab. 6984 

 primula geraniifolia. 



Native of the Eastern Himalaya. 



Nat. Ord. Peimulace-E. — Tribe Pbimulex. 

 Genus Pbistcxa, Linn.; (Benth.et HooJcf. Gen. PL vol. ii. p. 631.) 



Pkimttla geraniifolia ; acaulis, molliter hirsuta, efarinosa, foliis Ionge petiolatis 

 rotundato-cordatis ambitu acute v. obtuse lobulatis, lobulis crenato-dentatis, 

 scapo pracillimo, floribus umbellatis verticillatisve patentibus, bracteis linearibus 

 pedicellis brevioribus, calycis subcampanulati 5-fidi lobis erectis ovatis acutis, 

 corolla? tubo brevi subinflato, ore annulato, lobis breviusculis obcordatis 

 patentibus, ovario globoso. 



P. gebaniifolia, Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Tnd. vol. iii. p. 484. 



This is a near ally of the P. mollis figured at Tab. 4798 

 of this work, and, like it, is a native of the Eastern Hima- 

 laya, its congener being found in the neighbouring province 

 of Bhotan. Both belong to a group of the genus of which 

 the P. corhisioides (Tab. 399) of Siberia is the long-known 

 type. There are, however, remarkable differences in the 

 corollas of P. geraniifolia, mollis and corhisioides, inasmuch as 

 the divisions of the corolla-lobes of the first named are short 

 and rounded with a broad sinus, those of mollis are narrower 

 with an acute narrow sinus, and of cortusioides are divari- 

 cate with a broad acute sinus. The calyx is very similar 

 in all three, but the corolla-tube of mollis is much the 

 longest of the three. P. sinensis, which is usually referred 

 to the same group, differs remarkably in the inflated base 

 of the calyx. The lobing of the leaf of P. geraniifolia varies 

 very much in the original specimens for which the descrip- 

 tion in the Mora of British India was drawn up. They are 

 longer than in the specimen here figured, and quite acute. 



P. geraniifolia is a native of the (politically) Tibetan 

 province of Chumbi, which forms a wedge, with its narrow 

 end to the south, between Sikkim on the west and Bhotan 

 on the east. In other words, it is a triangular section of 

 the Himalaya, extending southward from Tibet proper to 

 about half-way between the valleys of the Burrampooter 



march 1st, 1888. 



