Meconopsis and Cathcartia. 349 
Linn. Soc., xxiii. 34 (1886) ; Maxim., FI. Tangut., i. 36, t. 9, figs. 1-6, t. 23, 
fig. 26 (1889) ; Flora and Sylva, iii. 84 (1905). 
Tibet. In locis saxosis late dispersa. Himalaya orientalis. In 
saxosis alpinis supra 14,000 p. s. m. in Sikkim et in Chumbi cum praecedenti 
rara. China. In saxosis alpinis supra 14,000 p.s. m. in Szechuen ; in 
pratis alpinis in Kansuh. 
Now established in European horticulture. Apparently monocarpic. 
The Aculeatae as a whole form a natural group, most nearly related to the 
Primulinae . They differ from the latter group chiefly in being armed with rigid 
spines which replace the simple, rarely rigid and never pungent setae that are more 
or less characteristic of the Primulinae. They further differ in having, with the 
exception of M. horridula proper, well developed stems, whereas in the Primulinae , 
with the exception of M. lancifolia , we usually have simple 1 -flowered scapes. 
At least a year appears to elapse between seed and flower in all the species of this 
group ; the crown of leaves dies down during the intervening winter. As a rule the 
plant dies after flowering, but in the case of M. aculeata individual plants are 
occasionally polycarpic. 
The question how far the forms that compose the Aculeatae are distinct species 
is an open one. Hooker and Thomson (FI. Ind., 252) have suggested that the two 
forms which are most distinct in habit and appearance, M. aculeata and M. horridula 
proper, may be only varieties of one species. On the other hand, the two that 
are most nearly allied, M. horridula proper and M. horridula var. racemosa , have 
been treated by Maximowicz as distinct species (Mel. Biol., ix. 713 and FI. Tangut., 
i. 36). The more convenient and perhaps more natural treatment adopted here lies 
between these two extreme views. 
If further reduction be necessary it may be suggested that there are only two 
somewhat variable species in the group; (1) M. aculeata, with M. sinuata as a 
distinct variety differing in the degree of lobulation of the leaves and in the shape 
of the capsule ; and (2) M. horridula , including as distinct varieties M. racemosa and 
M. rudis. The characters separating the two widened species are the 5-8 petals, 
enlarged torus, and subentire leaves in M. horridula , the 4 petals, unexpanded torus, 
and more or less lobed leaves in M. aculeata. 
II 4. Primulinae , Prain, Journ. As. Soc. Beng., Ixiv. 2. 319 (1895). 
I Hermes; monocarpicae ; caules saepissime brevissimi ; folia Integra; flores 
intense coerulei petalis saepissime 5-8, raro 4 ; styli distincti ; stigmata 
saepissime globoso-clavata, raro bifida ; capsula glabra vel plus minusve 
setosa sensim in stylum attenuata. 
8. Meconopsis lancifolia, Franeh. Folia caulibusque plus minusve 
setosa, lanceolata margine integra ; flores in cymas racemiformes dispositi, 
pedicellis ebracteis ; petala 4 ; capsula anguste obconica stylo 4-plo 
longior. Franeh. ex Prain, Journ. As. Soc. Beng., Ixiv. 2. 31 1 (1895). 
Cathcartia lancifolia , Franeh., Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr., xxxiii. 391 (1886) ; PI. 
Delavay., 43 (1889). 
