Primula bellidifolia, King, and its Allies. 
BY 
S, T. DUNN, B.A. tie 2RGS, 
With Plate LXI. 
In the woods and damp alpine meadows of the eastern flanks 
of Tibet and adjacent ranges occur a number of species of a 
very marked section of the Primulas, having close heads or 
spikes of small blue or purple flowers, borne on long, slender 
scapes which arise from a rosette of entire or crenulate leaves. 
Their fragrance and the fine colour of their flowers have fre- 
quently brought them under the notice of horticultural collectors, 
and, as a result, several species are now in cultivation in Europe. 
Their flowering under cultivation has invariably been in May, 
though in their wild habitats, so far as is known, their flowers 
are always produced during the latter part of July and August. 
When Pax and Knuth published their monograph of Primu- 
laceae in 1905, three species only of this group had been 
distinguished—P. bellidifolia, King, P. cernua, Franch., and 
P. Viali, Franch.; one more was described in that work—P. 
Giraldiana, Pax; four have been published since—P. dejlexa, 
Duthie, P. Littonitana, Forrest, P. muscariotdes, Hemsl., and 
P. pendulifiora, Petitm. ; while two more, P. Watsoni, Dunn, and 
P. gracilenta, Dunn, are added in the present paper founded 
on material in the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Garden, 
Kew. P. Watsoni, Dunn, is represented at Kew by a living 
plant, communicated by Professor Balfour from the Royal 
Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, and it was his inquiry concerning 
it which led to the investigation of the group resulting in the 
following notes. 
The ten species which are enumerated below, though having 
the appearance of being easily distinguishable, and being, in 
such cases as can be judged, quite distinct horticulturally, yet 
present some difficulty when it is attempted to arrange them in 
a systematic series. It may be that in some cases sexual forms, 
corresponding with the different relative positions of stigma 
and stamens well known to occur in this genus, have been 
[Notes, R.B.G., Edin., No. XXIII., December 191I.] 
