PRIMULACE.E. (PRIMROSE FAMILY.) 233 



1. D. Meadia, L. Leaves crowded on a thickish crown, generally -spatu- 

 late-oblong or oblauceolate and entire or nearly so, sometimes repand, obtuse, 

 below tapering into a more or less margined petiole : scape from a span to 

 2 feet high : flowers few to many in an umbel ; bracts of the involucre linear 

 or subulate, small; pedicels slender and nodding with the flowers, erect in 

 fruit. Throughout the continent and exceedingly variable, especially west- 

 ward. 



Var. alpinum, Gray. Leaves oblanceolate or spatulate, to l inch long, 

 entire, mucronate : scape 2 to 10 inches long, 1 to 4-flowered. Synopt. Fl. ii. 

 57. From the Rocky Mountains to the Sierras. 



Var. frigidum, Gray. Leaves from obovate to oblong, very obtuse, 

 mostly entire, 1 to 2 inches long, with a slender petiole : scape a span or two 

 high, few to several-flowered : lobes of the calyx longer than the tube, from 

 broadly lanceolate to almost ovate, shorter than the capsule. Synopt. Fl. ii. 

 57. Rocky Mountains, Sierras, and far northward. 



Var. latilobum, Gray. Leaves thin, ovate or oval, repand or undulate- 

 toothed, long-petioled : scape a span to a foot high, one to several-flowered : 

 calyx-lobes not longer than the tube, ovate or triangular-ovate, about half the 

 length of the capsule. Synopt. Fl. ii. 58. Wahsatch Mountains to Wash- 

 ington and British Columbia. 



2. PRIMULA, L. PRIMROSE. 



Flowers sometimes dimorphous. Perennial plants, mostly with fibrous roots 

 from a short crown, glabrous or nearly so. 



* Flowers small ; tube of the salver form corolla not over 2 or 3 lines long and little 

 surpassing the calyx ; throat with more or less of a callous ring or processes. 



1. P. farinosa, L. More or less white mealy on the leaves, calyx, etc., 

 at least when young: leaves from cuneate-lanceolate to obovate-oblong or 

 spatulate, denticulate, an inch or less lon^, tapering into a short margined 

 petiole : scape 3 to 9 inches high : umbel few to several-flowered, close : corolla 

 from flesh-color to lilac, with yellowish eye ; the lobes cuneate-obcordate, rather 

 distant at base. From Colorado northward, thence eastward to Maine and 

 Labrador. 



* * Flowers larger ; tube of the corolla from 3 to 6 lines long ; throat open and 



unappendaged : leaves clustered on the short erect subterranean crown. 



2. P. angUStifolia, Torr. Small: scape \-fowered, 1 or 2 inches high, 

 equalling the lanceolate-spatulate obtuse entire short-petioled leaves: involucre 

 of 1 or 2 minute bracts : lobes of the lilac-purple corolla obovate, emarginate 

 (3 or 4 lines long) ; the tube hardly exceeding the narrow teeth of the oblong 

 calyx. Ann. Lye. N. Y. i. 34. Alpine in Colorado and New Mexico. 



3. P. Parryi, Gray. Large : leaves rather succulent, spatulate-oblong or 

 oblanceolate, 4 to 12 inches long, often denticulate: scape a span to afoot high, 5 to 

 \2-flowered: bracts of the involucre subulate : calyx ovoid-campanulate, gland- 

 ular, commonly reddish; the lanceolate-subulate lobes as long as the tube: 

 corolla crimson-purple with yf-llow eye; the round obovate lobes (5 lines long) 

 emarginate or obcordate. Amer. Jour. Sci. n. xxxiv. 257. Along alpine 

 brooks from Colorado to Arizona and Nevada. ' 



