Inventory 73, Seeds and Plants Imported 



Plate I 



A Handsome Chinese Primrose (Primula sinopurpurea Balf. f.; S. P. I. 



No. 55899) 



Because of its vigor and free-flowering habit in the high mountains of western China, where 

 it is native, this primrose seems likely to be more satisfactory in cultivation than other mem- 

 bers of the "nivalis" section of the genus, to which this species belongs. It was found by 

 J. F. Rock in boggy meadows on the Likiang Snow Range in northern Yunnan at an alti- 

 tude of 12,000 feet. The plant grows to a height of about 3 feet, and the flower stalks and 

 lower surfaces of the thick dark-green leaves are covered with golden meal. In May the 

 rich rosy purple, fragrant flowers, each about an inch in diameter, are produced in clusters 

 of 6 to 12 or more. (Photographed by J. F. Rock, Yunnan, China, May, 1922; P30216FS) 



