490 LXXXVII. PRIMULACEJ;. (J. D. Hooker.) [Primula. 



26. P. elong-ata, Watt, in Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. ined. ; leaves long- 

 petioled 3-5 in. membranous obovate or oblanceolate obtuse crenulate narrowed 

 into a usually long petiole mealy or not beneath, scape tall, flowers few sub- 

 sessile, bracts short subulate, calyx narrow cleft to the middle, teeth lanceolate, 

 corolla yellow glabrous, tube very long, throat funnel-shaped not annulate, lobes 

 rounded obcordate toothed. (Herb. Ind. Or. H.f. $ T. Prim. 14.) 



SIKKIM HIMALAYA; Zemu valley, alt. 12-13,000 ft., J. D. H. 



A rather slender species, with few yellow flowers remarkable chiefly for the 

 length of the corolla-tube, with rounded toothed lobes, short bracts, and globose ovary 

 with a subacute tip like P. obtusifolia, of which it is possibly a form. Corolla-tube 

 J of an inch long (including the throat), three times as long as the calyx. Fruit 

 not seen. 



ft Ovary rounded and usually thickened at the top. Capsule oblong or 

 cylindric, exceeding the calyx. 



27. P. Stuartii, Wall in Eoxb. Fl. Ind. ed. Carey $ Wall. ii. 20; 



mealy or not, quite glabrous, leaves 4-10 in. coriaceous suberect broadly or 

 narrowly oblauceolate or obovate-spathulate acute or obtuse quite entire crenu- 

 late or finely toothed, midrib very broad, petiole broadly membranous below, 

 flowers loosely umbelled, bracts elongate, calyx terete, lobes usually long narrow 

 acute rarely obtuse, corolla yellow or purple* mouth contracted, tube equalling 

 the calyx-throat or long as the tube, limb various, seeds coarsely granulate. 



Throughout the SUBALPINE and ALPINE HIMALAYA and TIBET; alt. 12-16,000 ft. 

 DISTJRIB. Affghanistan. 



After long study I am unable to draw any specific characters between the many 

 forms of purple and yellow (rarely white) Primulas included under the above character. 

 If there are species amongst them they hybridise so as to defy recognition by descrip- 

 tion. Each of the following varieties may have its small and great form with nar- 

 rower or broader, entire and serrated, mealy and green leaves, many or few sessile or 

 pedicelled flowers, more or less deeply-cut calyx, mealy on the outer only, or inner 

 only, or on both surfaces, and a longer or shorter corolla-tube.with very variously formed 

 lobes. The habit of the forms may be seen to depend on dryness or wetness of soil, 

 or the length of herbage amongst which the plant grows, and elevation on the moun- 

 tains, and many of the forms are no doubt constant and reproduced with much con- 

 stancy by seed. 



VAR. 1. Stuartii proper; leaves 5-10 in. narrowly oblanceolate or short and 

 spathulate acute closely sharply toothed rarely entire yellow-mealy beneath, inflor- 

 escence more mealy, calyx-teeth linear or lanceolate acute or obtuse, corolla-lobes 

 orbicular and emarginate or broadly obcordate entire or toothed. P. Stuartii, Wai/. 

 I.e. ; Tent. Fl. Nep. t. 34; Cat. 606 in part ; Don Prodr. 80 ; Duby in DC. Prodr. 

 viii. 41 ; Bot. Mag. t. 4356. From Sikkim to Kashmir and Tibet 



VAR. 2. purpurea ; leaves as in var. 1 but seldom toothed and oftener broader 

 white- or yellow-mealy beneath, flowers sometimes in two whorls, calyx as in 

 var. 1 but sometimes nearly an inch long linear-oblong and round at the tip, 

 corolla pale or deep purple, lobes obcordate or 2-fid entire, capsule sometimes 1 in. 

 P. purpurea, Boyle III. 311, t. 77, f. 2 ; Duby I. c. 40 ; Wall. Cat. 606 (the Kumaon 

 specimens). P. macrophylla, Don Prodr. 80. P. Jaeschkiana. Kerner in Bericht des 

 Naturwiss. Medicin. Vereins Innsbruck, Jahrg. i. Heft 2, 97. 



VAR. 3. Moorcroftiana ; not or very slightly mealy, leaves 2-4 in. oblanceolate 

 acute usually quite entire, scape shorter fewer-flowered, calyx-lobes narrow acuminate, 

 corolla as in var. 1 purple. P. Moorcroftiana, Wall. Cat. 4088. Western Tibet. 



Wallich's specimens are miserable, but no doubt referable to the common Western 

 Tibetan form described above ; the flowers are sessile in his specimens, as they often 

 are in high alpine forms. Strachey and Winter bottom's P. Moorcroftiana, from 16,800 

 ft. on the Niti Pass, Kumaon, is very dwarf, with leaves white-mealy beneath and 

 sessile flowers. 



