BALFOUR—NEW SPECIES OF PRIMULA. 53 
springing in a tuft, about 2}-5 cm. in length, ovate-cordate, 
dark green, thick and flannelly, borne on stout petioles as 
long as the blade, and often twice as long ; the lowest diminish- 
ing till they are but small oval-rounded pale tabs. Scape 34-5 
inches, greatly exceeding the leaves, each carrying one very 
large flower. Calyx a cup, cloven to the base in ovate-lanceo- 
late lobes. Flower rich light violet-blue, of luminous effect, 
the straight tube more than 34 cm. in length, glandular, pale- 
purple, slightly and gradually swelling at base and throat. 
Lobes of the corolla and calyx usually 6, sometimes 5 or 7: 
those of the corolla open at first in a small regular star of 
deep violet, but soon lighten, the three upper lobes now lying 
stiffly back along the tube, and the three lower standing 
as stiffly outward, so as to make a strangely Gesneraceous 
effect. Corolla lobes obovate, usually emarginate. Stamens 
all gathered at the roof of the tube, over the pistil. Capsule 
globular (?). © 
‘“‘ Distributed locally at high elevations, Siku, Satanee, gooo- 
10,000, only in steep banks of turf-shelves sloping W. or 
N.W. in soil of red limy loam, rich friable forest compost, 
or black vegetable mould, sharply drained and loose, getting 
no moisture but that belonging to the high altitude, and 
cool exposure that it unalterably affects, haunting the under- 
side of tussocks, but occasionally spreading even into the 
fine light scrub of little gale and rhododendron. May and 
une. 
: And later he says :—‘‘ This noble Omphalogramma expands 
fully in late summer; very thick and flannelly leaves of deep 
dusty opaque green with lighter veins remarkably suggesting 
those of some fat Viola of the ‘ hirta-group,’ but lying out on 
the ground, too heavy for their flushed fleshy and stalwart 
peduncles. The capsule is apparently round, the calyx fringed 
with many teeth; the sp. with its absurd throat, is not at 
all a free seeder. One rocky shelf, that had been blue with 
blossom, yielded only some 7-8 seed-stems. Flowers May ; 
seed nearly all gone, Sept. 3 
Photographs of the species, with brief comment upon its 
beauties, have appeared in the Gardeners’ Chronicle, lvi (1914), 
he plant is an interesting addition to the Omphalogramma 
series. Its nearest ally is P. Englert, Knuth a species collected 
by Soulié at Tatsienlu. I have not seen specimens of P._ 
Engleri, Knuth, and rely entirely upon the technical description | 
as a basis for the differentiation from it of P. Viola-grandis, 
Farrer et Purdom. For purposes of comparison a trans 
scription of Knuth’s description of P. Englert, Knuth is given 
