Tas. 8180. 
MECONOPSIS setua. 
= 
Himalaya, 
PapaVERACEAE, Tribe HUPAPAVEREAE. 
Meconopsis, Vig.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. i. p. 52; Prantl & 
Kundig in Eng. & Prantl Pflanzenfam. vol. iii. 2, p. 141. 
Meconopsis (§ Eumeconopsis) bella, Prain, Jowrn. As. Soc. Beng. vol. Ixiii. 
2, p. 82; Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Calcutta, vol. ix. 1, p. 3, t. 4; Gard. Chron. 
1906, vol. xl. p. 198, fig. 81; Ann. Bot. vol. xx. p. 351; species in 
genere ob folia 2-3-secta lobulis parvis insignis; flores coerulei, in seapis 
radicalibus singuli. 
Herba polycarpica, acaulis. Folia radicalia, conferta, glabra vel parce pilis 
simplicibus induta, lamina ovato-lanceolata, 2-3-jugim pinnatisecta, 
2'5-5 om. longa, 1-1°5 em. lata, lobulis 5 mm. longis, 3 mm. latis ; petiolus 
35-6 cm. longus versus basin parum vaginatus. Flores numerosi in 
_pedunculis simplicibus 3°5-8 em. longissinguli. Sepala 2, ovata, 1'5 cm. 
longa, 9 mm. lata, glabra. Petala 4, raro 5, coerulea, ovato-rotundata, 
3. cm. longa, 2°75 cm. lata. Stamina indefinita, pluriseriata; filamenta 
filiformia, glabra, discreta, intense coerulea, antheris oblongis aureis. 
Ovarium e carpellis 5-6 compositum, pirce setosum, oblongum, 5 mm. 
longum, stylo3 mm. longo glabro; placentae intrusae; ovula numerosa. 
Capsula matura subpyriformis, 1°5 em. longa. 
Meconopsis bella, the smallest species of the. genus, was 
first met with in two localities on the eastern frontier of 
Nepal by a Lepcha collector employed by Sir George King 
in July, 1888. Seeds obtained that year were sent to 
various alpine gardens in Europe from the Royal Botanic 
Garden, Calcutta, but none of the recipients appear to 
have succeeded in raising plants. The species was not 
met with again for several years ; nor was it rediscovered 
_ till a special search was. made in the original localities, 
Peykiongla, in Jongri, just within Western Sikkim, and 
Nyegu, just across the Nepalese frontier, at from 12,000 
to 14,000 ft. above sea-level. Since 1598 repeated at- 
tempts have been made to introduce the species to Euro- 
pean horticulture. These have at last been successful, 
and plants raised from seed collected on the Nepalese 
frontier in 1903, and distributed from the Calcutta garden, 
flowered in the Royal Botanic Garden, Hdinburgh, in 
August, 1906. The figure now given is based on one 
of these plants, presented to Kew by Professor Bayley 
Balfour. 
Aeris Ist, 1907. 
