262 Craib— Primulas of Petiolaris-Sonchifolia Section 



P. petiolaris, Wall. P. sulphured, Craib 



P. saxicola, Craib P. taliensis, G. Forrest 



P. scapigera, Craib P. taraxacoides, Balf. f. 



P. Scully i, Craib P. vernicosa, F. K. Ward 



P. sautftf, Royle ex Craib P. WWfc*, W. W. Smith 



P. sonchifolia, Franchet P. Wi'wten, W. Watson. 



GROUPING OF THE SPECIES. 



Among the species enumerated there can be recognised seven 

 quite natural groups as follows :— 



i. Including P. Hookeri from Sikkim and P. vernicosa from 

 Yunnan and Upper Burma, dwarf alpines with very compact 

 foliage, coriaceous imbricate bud scales persistent at flowering 

 time and closely investing the foliage, of which the outer mem- 

 bers are very much broadened and sheathing at their bases. 

 The small white flowers are borne on minute, nearly always 

 2-flowered scapes, but appear as if quite sessile, immersed in 

 the compact foliage or just overtopping the leaves ; flowers and 

 leaves coetaneous or nearly so. By this one character of the 

 immersed, apparently sessile flowers, these two species can be 

 immediately distinguished from all the other species of the sec- 

 tion. P. taliensis is occasionally very small, with the flowers 

 scarcely as long as the leaves, but a distinct pedicel and a more 

 or less distinct scape is always found. Plants of P. vernicosa 

 fruiting here last year, one in the open, the other under glass, 

 had the scape fully 2.5 inches long. For some time after the 

 fruit had set there was very little sign of elongation of the scape, 

 which, however, lengthened very rapidly as the fruit approached 

 maturity. 



2. Represented by one species — P. taliensis from Yunnan. 

 Small, stalked capitate or club-shaped glands are to be found 

 in practically every member of the section, yet in only two 

 species, viz. P. taliensis and P. Drummondiana, are there dis- 

 tinct gland-tipped hairs. In the latter these hairs are confined 

 to the upper surface of the leaf, and are there found only to- 

 wards the margin, whereas in P. taliensis they occur practically 

 all over the plant, and are very dense on the scape and pedicels. 

 P. taliensis is a small plant, with usually spathulate or obovate, 

 more or less distinctly petioled, toothed leaves. The flowers 

 are borne on 2-7-flowered short scapes, and are subequal to 

 the leaves or more often just overtop the leaves. The corolla 

 lobes are toothed or sometimes almost fringed, and the tube is 

 exannulate. The calyx lobes, which are shorter than the tube, 

 are sometimes acutely acuminate, sometimes more or less dis- 

 tinctly toothed on one side, and very often 3-toothed at the 



