326 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxix. 



the plant is of the mould of P. obconica, Hance, with 

 typically shaped leaves and scapes extending beyond the 

 foliage, but it has marks which make it one of the most 

 distinct of the obconico- Lister i series. 



Its hard xeromorphous, nearly glabrous, foliage arrests 

 attention at once, but the characters above others that 

 distinguish the plant are the inflorescence and flower. I 

 know of no other species within the affinity of obconica in 

 which one finds an inflorescence like it. The two prominent 

 features are the large foliaceous bracts and the secund sub- 

 capitular form. 



The broad ovate-apiculate bracts are many, and form 

 quite an involucre around the flowers, and from this 

 character the specific name has been taken. 



The flowers at full expansion have short pedicels hardly 

 or only a little longer than the bracts, and the time interval 

 betwixt the anthesis of successive flowers is, as in most 

 species of the section, distinctly marked, so that in the 

 developing inflorescence there is an admixture of shortly 

 stalked and almost sessile flowers, giving the whole body a 

 somewhat capitular form which is emphasised by the 

 involucroid bracteal sheath. Then the whole inflorescence 

 is deflexed after the fashion that characterises the sol- 

 danelloid primulas — and the successively opening flowers 

 become erect as their pedicels elongate. In fruit — judging 



pallid iore venisque etiam hirsutis, margine sinuato-undulata late crenata 

 crenis vel lobis plus minusve denticulatis vel crenulatis, basi cordata ; 

 petiolus robustus firmus ad 10 cm. longus pilis longis articulatis fulvis 

 vestitus. Scapus folia vix superans omnino pilis fulvis articulatis dense 

 obtectus umbellam subcapitatam congestam subsecundam plurifloram 

 gerens ; bracteae foliaceae magnae exteriores 8 "5 mm. longae 5 mm. latae 

 ovatae apiculatae, interiores sublanceolatae acuminatae, venulosae cum 

 pedicellis et calyce fulvo-hirsutae involucrum formantes ; pedicelli 

 breves inaequales sub antbesi bracteis breviores vel vix longiores 

 sub fructu erecti. Calyx in flore longistylo 9 mm. longus tubus 

 venulosus corollam superans ad tertiam partem fissus, tubo poculiformi, 

 lobis triangulari-acutis ciliatis ad apicem bydatbodeo instructis. 

 Corollae tubus 8 mm. longus, annulatns, limbi 1 cm. diam. discus 

 1 mm. longus, lobi 4 mm. longi 3 mm. lati oblongi vel elliptici retusi 

 mucronulati. Filamenta staminum valida antherarum apicibus ab 

 annulo 2 mm. remotis. Stylus exsertus. Capsula immatura globosa 

 calyce venuloso inclusa. 



Yunnan. Lien-boa-cban near Ta-yao-bien. Coll. Jean Py, 12, iv, 

 1909. Ducloux, No. 1619. In Herb. Bonati. 



Yunnan. Kegion of Pincbwan. Coll. Jean Py, 1911. Ducloux, 

 No. 6951. In Herb. Paris. Specimen sent to me by M. Bonati. 



