OBSERVATIONS ON INDIAN PRIMULAS. 



211 



accepted. Unfortunately some botanists regard Royle's plant as 

 at most but a variety, so that, if that opinion be adopted, the specific 

 name for both, of necessity, becomes P. Stuartii. From practical 

 considerations, I am not disposed to attach much importance to whether 

 two Primroses, long accepted as separate species, which are easily 

 recognizable from each other and have never, so far as is known, been 

 produced under cultivation from the selfsame seed, should have the 

 dignity of specific or only of varietal positions assigned to them. 

 But this much may be advanced in support of specific values, viz., 

 that the European and Asiatic parallel series, namely P. nivalis and 

 its numerous allies, have been for the most part accepted as species. 

 In the present instance a still stronger argument, however, presents 

 itself, namely in the fact that P. Stuartii is nearly, if not quite, as 

 difficult to separate from P. sikkimensis, P. elongata, and even P. 

 reticulata, as from P. purpurea. In fact, if the foliage only be examined, 

 to the list of species separable with difficulty from P. Stuartii would 

 have to be added P. Traillii and P. prolifera. P. Traillii has pale blue 

 flowers, P. purpurea purple flowers, but all the others have lemon- 

 yellow flowers, and even P. obtusifolia has both purple and yellow 

 flowers. Indeed, luxuriant specimens of the yellow-flowered condition 

 of P. obtusifolia can with difficulty be separated from the Stuartii- 

 sikkimensis series. The yellow-flowered primroses of India constitute, 

 therefore, a most perplexingly difficult group. In fact, they can alone 

 be isolated one from the other by relative qualities. 



P. purpurea, Royle. Leaves obovate-spathulate, almost entire. 

 Flowers purple, forming compact umbels ; capsules often twice the 

 length of the calyx. Found on exposed hillsides, seeking the shade 

 of overhanging banks and preferring rich mouldy soils. Duthie 

 collected in Hazara a yellow-flowered form of this plant which is very 

 different from P. Stuartii and has the protruding capsules of P. purpurea. 



P. Stuartii, Wall. Differs from purpurea in the leaves being 

 minutely serrate. It is usually found in much wetter situations, 

 preferring in fact, like P. sikkimensis and P. prolifera, watercourses. 

 Flowers lemon-yellow on long spreading pedicels ; capsules the 

 length of the calyx. The Cambridge Botanic Gardens are supposed 

 to have grown it in 1887, but their specimen in the Kew Herbarium 

 seems to me to be rather a yellow-flowered form of P. obtusifolia. 



P. sikkimensis, Hook. Leaves tapering into a winged petiole ; 

 coarsely serrate. Fruits globose, shorter than the calyx. Frequents 

 marshy situations. P. serrati folia, Franch., from Yunnan, is probably 

 only a form of P. sikkimensis. 



P. Traillii, sp. nov. Leaves elliptic-spathulate, distinctly wing- 

 petiolate. Flowers verticillate, pale blue ; carpels contained within the 

 calyx. Found under shade of rocks in dry situations at great altitudes. 



P. Inayati, Duthie. A Hazara plant, found at low altitudes 

 (4,500 feet), which is possibly intermediate between P. sikkimensis 

 and P. prolifera. The scapes are shorter than the leaves, and the 

 fruits contained within the calyx. 



p 2 



