l88 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



name P. capitata — which appears to be a connecting link between the 

 true denticulata and the bellidifolia series — there appear to the writer 

 to be three distinct plants — namely : (i) the true capitata with rather 

 short and narrow, acute leaves, white on the under-surface exactly as 

 represented in the original " Botanical Magazine " plate ; (2) a much 

 more robust plant with large leaves, generally rounded at the apex, very 

 rarely white on the under-surface, with a deeper and more coarsely 

 cut edge and with the nerves prominent on the under-surface ; and 

 (3) a plant mixed on two sheets in the herbarium with leaves inter- 

 mediate in size but with yellow farina on the under-surface. These 

 three plants the writer believes to be specifically distinct. 



Three Indian species — namely, P. Heydei, P. minutissima, and P. 

 reptans — form the section Min utissimae, Pax. Of these , the only plant 

 calling for special notice here is P. minutissima var. spathulata, Hook, f., 

 which the writer regards as a distinct species. Unfortunately, the name 

 spathulata has already been applied to a species, and under these cir- 

 cumstances the writer proposes the name P. spathuli folia for it. In 

 191 1, W. W. Smith described a new species under the name P. flagellaris, 

 which in foliage is very similar to P. spathuli folia ; but which is very 

 distinct from it, as from all other Indian species, in possessing long 

 runners which terminate in small plants after the fashion of some 

 of the flagellate Saxifrages. 



Of the seven species comprising the section Tenellae, Pax, there 

 are four East Himalayan : P. tenella, P. muscoides, P. tenuiloba, and 

 P. Stirtoniana. Pax's treatment of these differs only in the raising 

 of P. muscoides var. tenuiloba to specific rank. 



The Nivales include four Indian species : P. sikkimensis, P. Stuartii, 

 P. elongata, and P. nivalis. The first named is, so far as the writer 

 has seen, confined to the East Himalaya. In his treatment of P. 

 Stuartii, Pax rightly strips it of the numerous varieties accorded to 

 it in Watt's and Hooker's systems and attaches these varieties to P. 

 nivalis) but as to how distinct these varieties — namely, Moorcroftiana, 

 macrophylla (i.e. P. purpurea, Royle) , and macrocarpa — may be amongst 

 themselves the writer does not feel quite satisfied from the dried 

 specimens. Shortly after the publication of the monograph, Pax 

 described a new species under the name P. Meeboldii which, though 

 Pax in his description refers it to the next section, the writer cannot 

 separate specifically from P. nivalis var. Moorcroftiana. In his 

 notes on the flora of South-East Sikkim in early July, W. W. Smith 

 remarks that the Primulas were a special glory of the slopes and 

 meadows, and that the most conspicuous was a white P. Stuartii with 

 a somewhat oblique corolla. In his paper, Smith hints that it may 

 be a new species, and this has proved to be the case. He hopes to 

 publish it soon under the name P. obliqua. It was previously collected 

 at Laghep by C. B. Clarke. 



Among the Callianthae, which is probably the least natural of 

 Pax's sections, are enumerated eight species from India : P. Dickieana, 

 P. Pantlingii, P. Jaffreyana, P. hazarica, P. Inayatii, P. Griffithii, 



