264 Craib— Primulas of Petiolaris-Sonchifolia Section. 



is large, with its lobes regularly or irregularly denticulate. 

 The depressed globose capsule is included in the calyx tube or 

 slightly exserted from it. 



It is necessary now to say something of the plant named 

 P. nana, by Wallich, as distinct from what is meant by P. nana 

 of later authors. In the Calcutta herbarium there are two 

 sheets of Wallich's type, consisting of very incomplete material. 

 There is no corolla, no fruit, and none of the later developed 

 leaves, but from the general habit of the plant there can, I think, 

 be little doubt as to its inclusion in this group. In fact the only 

 character by which I could distinguish this incomplete material 

 from the well-known P. W inter i was in the calyx lobes having a 

 more decidedly pinnate nervation. 



Again, as regards P. saxicola, it would be well to note that 

 while good flowering specimens have not been seen, its affinity 

 with P. Edgeworthii can scarcely be doubted. In fact so similar 

 are the two that one of the specimens on which P. saxicola was 

 founded was quoted by Pax * under his P. Edgeworthii. 



5. In this group, which occurs in the Himalayas from Tibet 

 and Bhutan westwards, as also in the remaining two groups, we 

 depart from the coetaneous flower and leaf development, and 

 likewise — unless occasionally in P. petiolaris — from the per- 

 sistent bud scales. Here we have plants with a dense rosette 

 of leaves, of which at least the outer are fully formed at flower- 

 ing time. Flowers in the majority are numerous, and are borne 

 on a scape which is so reduced that it may be said to be wholly 

 wanting. The seven representatives of the group may be con- 

 veniently divided into two lots, depending on the lobing or 

 toothing of the corolla :— 



(a) Corolla lobes rather deeply divided into two, or more 

 rarely three, lobules, which are oblong with a rounded apex — 

 P. sulphurea and P. Drummondiana from N.W. Himalayas, 

 and P. Cunninghamii from East Sikkim and Tibet. P. Drum- 

 mondiana can readily be distinguished from its allies by the 

 multicellular glandular hairs on the upper surface of the leaf to- 

 wards the margin, and P. sulphurea by the character which sug- 

 gested the name — the abundant sulphur farina which persists 

 on the lower surface of the leaf. 



(b) Corolla lobes acuminate or 3-toothed, sometimes irre- 

 gularly toothed, the teeth more or less deltoid and acute — 

 P. sessilis from N.W. Himalayas, P. petiolaris from Nepaul, P. 

 Scully i from Nepaul and Sikkim, and P. deutcronana and P. 

 gracilipes from Sikkim. Of these probably the most easily re- 

 cognised is P. petiolaris with its outer, elliptic, long petioled 

 leaves, and its rather long and finely attentuate calyx lobes. 



* Engler Pflanzenr. Primulaceae, p. 41. 



