Tas. 4550. 
PRIMULA capitTaTa. 
ftound-headed mealy Primrose. 
Nat. Ord. PrimuLAcE®.—PENTANDRIA MOoNOGYNIA. 
Gen. Char. Calyx subcampanulatus vel tubulosus, plus minus profunde 5-den- 
tatus vel etiam 5-fidus. Corolla hypocraterimorpha vel infundibuliformis, limbo 
5-fido, lobis plerumque emarginatis, fauce ad limbum dilatata, tubo tereti calyeem 
eequante aut superante. Stamina inclusa. Filamenta brevissima.  Anthere 
seepe acuminate, Ovarium globosum aut ovato-globosum. Ovula « peltatim 
amphitropa. Capsula ovata, 5-valvis, valvulis integris aut bifidis apice tantum 
dehiscentibus, seminibus minimis numerosis.—Herbee foliis plerumque radicalibus, 
scapo simplici, floribus umbellatis involucratis rarius verticillatis sepissime spe- 
ciosts. 
Primuta (§ Aleuritia) capitata ; foliis oblongo-lanceolatis denticulatis rugosis 
subtus precipue farinosis, scapo elongato superne incrassato, floribus dense 
capitatis, involucri foliolis lanceolatis, calycibus furfuraceis profunde 5-lobis 
lobis latis ovato-acuminatis, corolla hypocrateriformis limbo tubum_ trans- 
verse rugosum equante lobis profunde emarginatis. 
Raised at the Royal Gardens of Kew, from seeds sent by Dr. 
Hooker, which were gathered in June 1849, from plants growing 
on gravelly banks at Lachen, Sikkim-Himalaya, one of the Passes 
into Thibet ; elevation, 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. It 
is, although of the same groupe of Primule with the P. denticu- 
lata of the Nepal mountains and our own P. farinosa of the 
north of England and Scotland, a remarkable and well-defined 
species, the flowers being actually sessile, and so crowded as to 
form a compact globose head, like that of many species of A/- 
lium. or Armeria. Dr. Hooker observed that it yields a faint 
fragrance, which it does in cultivation, but this, in part at least, 
is derived from the farinaceous substance of the leaves and 
flowers. It flowers with us in a pot in the rock-border, in- 
October. : 
Drscr. Root, or rather rhizoma, an almost globose, rough, 
dark brown ¢uder, bearing a few fibrous radicles from imme- 
diately beneath the Zeaves, which latter are all radical, three to_ 
five inches long, oblong-lanceolate, rather obtuse, denticulate, 
DECEMBER Isr, 1850. 
