200 BALFOUR—NEW SPECIES OF PRIMULA. 
Var. acaulescens, Balf. fil. et W. W. Sm. 
Forma escaposa. Flores longe pedicellati pedicellis filiformi- 
bus folia superantibus ad 12 cm. longis ex axillis foliorum 
quasi singillatim vel fasciculatim orientibus. 
Sikkim. Sandakphu to Yakalungma, 10,000-12,000 ft. 
Watt. No. 5376. 20th May 1881. In Herb. Edin. et Kew. 
Clarke. No. 34,973. 5th June 1884. Sub nom. P. petiolaris, 
Wall. 
This purple-flowered species has been confused with P. 
obtusifolia, Royle and is one of the plants included by Hooker 
in his P. obtusifolia, Royle var. Roylei. Pax does not recognise 
Hooker and Watt’s var. Royles and sinks it in P. obtusifolia. 
But P. obtusifolia, Royle * is a Western Himalayan species ; 
it does not occur in Sikkim, and is a very different plant 
from all Sikkim species; it belongs to the Nivalis Section. 
P. Roylei is one of a series of Eastern Nepal, Sikkim, Tibet, and 
Bhutan plants which find their alliance in the Chinese species 
of the Sonchifolia Section and in the Petiolaris Section. The 
fruit characters separate them widely from P. obtusifolia. 
Possibly we may have to unite in one section Sonchifolia and 
Petiolaris, but at the moment I cannot discuss this question, 
as material for a decision is still lacking. P. Royle: is only 
one of several species that have been confused with P. obtusi- 
folia. Others are P. Gammieana, King, P. Griffith, Watt, 
P,. erate. Don, P. obliqua, W. W. Sm., P. purpurea, 
Royle, P. spathulata, Royle, P. Stuarti, Wall., P. Tannert, 
King. It has been in cultivation for many years under the 
name P. obtusifolia, and is the plant figured under that 
name in the Bot. Mag. (1887), t. 6956. In the Report of 
the Primula Conference, 1913, there is a figure - it as culti- 
vated under that name at Edinburgh. My remarks upon 
P. obtusifoha as a garden plant quoted by Sir peices Watt T 
refer to P. Roylen. 
P. Roylei is spread over West Sikkim and the eastern 
boundary of Nepal. It affects altitudes of 12,000-14,000 
ft., and, as the list of localities given above shows, I 
have seen specimens collected at various stations from San- 
dakphu in the south to Kanglanamo and Jongri in the north. 
Sir George Watt writes of it in his field notes as growing singly 
on damp grass-covered hills, covering miles of country with its 
pale purple flowers with yellow annulus. He also says that its 
scent is “‘ oppressive metallic said to give headache,” contrasting 
with the yellow-flowered P. obliqua, W. W. Sm. of which “ the 
flowers are much more pleasantly scented.” From Sir George 
* Royle Illustr. Bot. Himal. (1839), 311, t. 77. f. 1 
+ Watt, Observations on Indian Primulas in Bhai R.HLS. xxix (1904), 1316. 
