PRIMULACE^E. (PRIMROSE FAMILY.) 233 



1. D. Meadia, L. Leaves crowded on a thickish crown, generally spatu- 

 late-oblong or oblanceolate and entire or nearly so, sometimes repand, obtuse, 

 below tapering into a more or less margined petiole : scape from a span to 

 2 feet high : flowers few to many in an umbel ; bracts of the involucre linear 

 or subulate, small; pedicels slender and nodding with the flowers, erect in 

 fruit. — Throughout the continent and exceedingly variable, especially west- 

 ward. 



Var. alpinum, Gray. Leaves oblanceolate or spatulate, J to l£ inch long, 

 entire, mucronate : scape 2 to 10 inches long, 1 to 4-flowered. — Synopt. El. ii. 

 57. From the Rocky Mountains to the Sierras. 



Var. frigidum, Gray. Leaves from obovate to oblong, very obtuse, 

 mostly entire, 1 to 2 inches long, with a slender petiole : scape a span or two 

 high, few to several-flowered : lobes of the calyx longer than the tube, from 

 broadly lanceolate to almost ovate, shorter than the capsule. — Synopt. Fl. ii. 

 57. Rocky Mountains, Sierras, and far northward. 



Var. latilobunij Gray. Leaves thin, ovate or oval, repand or undulate- 

 toothed, long-petioled : scape a span to a foot high, one to several-flowered : 

 calyx-lobes not longer than the tube, ovate or triangular-ovate, about half the 

 length of the capsule. — Synopt. Fl. ii. 58. Wasatch Mountains to Wash- 

 ington and British Columbia. 



2. PRIMULA, L. Primrose. 



Flowers sometimes dimorphous. Perennial plants, mostly with fibrous roots 

 from a short crown, glabrous or nearly so. 



* Flowers small; tube of the saberform corolla not over 2 or 3 lines long and little 

 surpassing the calyx ; throat with more or less of a callous ring or processes. 



1. P. farinosa, L. More or less white mealy on the leaves, calyx, etc., 

 at least when young: leaves from ouneate-lanceolate to obovate-oblong or 

 spatulate, denticulate, an inch or less long, tapering into a short margined 

 petiole : scape 3 to 9 inches high : umbel few to several-flowered, close : corolla 

 from flesh-color to lilac, with yellowish eye ; the lobes cuneate-obcordate, rather 

 distant at base. — From Colorado northward, thence eastward to Maine and 

 Labrador. 



* * Flowers larger ; tube of the corolla from 3 to 6 lines long ; throat open and 



unappendaged : leaves clustered on the short erect subterranean crown. 



2. P. angUStifolia, Torr. Small : scape l-ftowered, 1 or 2 inches high, 

 equalling the lanceolate-spatulate obtuse entire short-petioled leaves: involucre 

 of 1 or 2 minute bracts : lobes of the lilac-purple corolla obovate, emarginate 

 (3 or 4 lines long) ; the tube hardly exceeding the narrow teeth of the oblong 

 calyx. — Ann. Lye. N. Y. i. 34. Alpine in Colorado and New Mexico. 



3. P. Parryi, Gray. Large: leaves rather succulent, spatulate-oblong or 

 oblanceolate, 4 to 12 inches long, often denticulate: scape a span to afoot high, 5 to 

 12-fiowered : bracts of the involucre subulate : calyx ovoid-campanulate, gland- 

 ular, commonly reddish; the lanceolate-subulate lobes as long as the tube: 

 corolla crimson-purple with yellow eye; the round obovate lobes (5 lines long) 

 emarginate or obcordate. — Amer. Jour. Sci. n. xxxiv. 257. Along alpine 

 brooks from Colorado to Arizona and Nevada. 



