Author

GP Jürgens

Primulaceae

Primula irregularis

by GP Jürgens

Craib

Bh2008 33 P56
Bhutan Doch-La, 3000m April
Nepal1992 198 P288 ergebnis
Nepal Suketar 2400m March 

Description

Primula irregularis Craib is a Himalayan primrose of restricted range, recorded in GBIF (about 45 occurrences) from Nepal, northern India and Bhutan. It is a plant of cool, humid temperate to subalpine habitats, growing on mossy banks, shaded forest floors, damp rock crevices and the margins of rhododendron and oak forest, broadly between about 2400 and 3500 m. The collections noted from Doch-La in Bhutan at 3000 m in April and from Suketar in eastern Nepal at 2400 m in March show it flowering very early, as winter snow recedes, in the moist, cloud-influenced mid-montane forest belt that characterises its niche.

It is a small farinose perennial forming a basal rosette that resumes growth early from a resting bud. The leaves are obovate to oblong, with a crenate-dentate, somewhat irregularly toothed margin tapering into a winged petiole, the undersurface frequently dusted with whitish or yellowish farina. The flowers open close to the rosette on a very short scape, solitary or in a few-flowered umbel. The corolla is salverform, with a slender tube and a spreading limb of obcordate, deeply emarginate lobes, pale lilac to violet with a contrasting paler or yellow eye. As in other primroses the species is heterostylous, and the small capsule contains numerous minute seeds.

Primula irregularis belongs to section Petiolares, the large Sino-Himalayan assemblage of early-flowering, farinose primulas whose species are notoriously difficult to delimit and which has been the subject of repeated revision. Heterostyly enforces outcrossing between long- and short-styled morphs. With its narrow range and dependence on perennially cool, moist microhabitats, the species is regionally restricted and likely sensitive to warming and habitat disturbance, characteristics shared by many of the high-altitude Petiolares primulas of the eastern Himalaya.

Author: Craib · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Richards' monograph Primula, Flowers of the Himalaya

Primulaceae

Primula kingii

by GP Jürgens

G.Watt 

BhutanPG2011 727 01 01
Bhutan Pele-La, 2750m July

Description

Primula kingii is an Eastern Himalayan endemic of restricted range, recorded from Bhutan, north-eastern India (Sikkim and adjacent Arunachal Pradesh) and southern Xizang (China), with some 57 georeferenced occurrences documented in GBIF. It is a plant of cool, perennially moist situations, favouring boggy alpine and subalpine meadows, seepage slopes, streamsides and damp turf saturated through the monsoon. The species ascends from the upper forest margin into the alpine zone; the photographed material from the Pele-La pass in central Bhutan at about 2750 m in July, flowering near the low end of its altitudinal span, illustrates its occupation of humid passes between drainage systems.

P. kingii is a small, tufted, glabrous perennial herb arising from a short rhizome with fibrous roots. The leaves form a basal rosette, oblanceolate to spathulate, narrowed to a winged petiole, the blade with a finely toothed or subentire margin and lacking the conspicuous farina seen in many congeners. The slender, erect scape bears a one-sided (secund), few-flowered terminal umbel of nodding flowers subtended by small bracts. The calyx is tubular-campanulate and dark, often blackish-purple; the corolla is deep blackish-crimson to maroon, with a narrow tube, a contracted throat and short, spreading or reflexed lobes. The fruit is a small capsule shorter than or about equalling the persistent calyx, releasing numerous minute seeds.

Within Primula the species is placed in the section Amethystina, a group of dark-flowered, nodding-blossomed Sino-Himalayan primroses centred on the eastern ranges. Its sombre maroon corolla and secund inflorescence distinguish it from associated species. As a narrowly distributed alpine bog specialist tied to high-elevation wetland microhabitats, it is potentially sensitive to hydrological change, grazing pressure and shifts in snowmelt timing, though no formal IUCN assessment defines its present status.

Author: G.Watt · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Genus Primula (Richards)

Primulaceae

Primula listeri

by GP Jürgens

King ex Hook.f.

Nepal 1994 205 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Mewa-Khola 2300m April 
Nepal1992 207 P303 ergebnis
Nepal Suketar 2400m March 
Nepal 2001 88 ergebnis ergebnis
East-Nepal Gupka Pokhari 3000m, April
Nepal 2001 123 ergebnis ergebnis
East-Nepal Gupka Pokhari 3000m, April

Description

Primula listeri is an eastern Himalayan species distributed through Nepal, northern India, Bhutan, southern China (Xizang, Yunnan) and northern Myanmar, with GBIF documenting around 102 georeferenced records concentrated along the wetter eastern arc of the range. It occupies shaded, humid montane environments between roughly 2000 and 3000 m, growing on mossy banks, in the leaf litter of broad-leaved and mixed forest, and along seeping rock faces. The populations imaged in East Nepal at Mewa Khola (2300 m, April), Suketar (2400 m, March) and Gupka Pokhari (3000 m, April) typify its phenology, with flowering coinciding with the early pre-monsoon period when soils remain moist and cool.

The plant is a small, delicate perennial herb forming a slender rootstock from which arises a rosette of thin-textured leaves. The leaves are petiolate, ovate to oblong with a crenate to dentate margin, and frequently sparsely farinose or efarinose beneath. Flowers are borne on a slender scape in a loose few-flowered umbel, each subtended by narrow bracts; the calyx is tubular and lobed, and the corolla is rotate with a narrow tube and notched, lilac to pale violet limb-lobes, the throat marked by an annulus. As in many sect. Petiolares allies the species is heterostylous, producing pin and thrum flowers. The fruit is a small capsule dehiscing to release numerous minute seeds.

Taxonomically P. listeri belongs to the species-rich Primula sect. Petiolares, a complex assemblage of vernal-flowering, rosette-forming primroses centred on the eastern Himalaya. Its restricted elevational band and dependence on permanently humid forest microhabitats make it sensitive to forest clearance and desiccation, though it is not formally assessed as threatened. Biogeographically it forms part of the rich Sino-Himalayan endemic flora whose diversification is linked to the monsoon-driven moisture gradient of the eastern ranges.

Author: King ex Hook.f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Richards' Primula (monograph)

Primulaceae

Primula macrophylla

by GP Jürgens

D.Don

BhutanPG2011 572 1
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Miluthang, 4350m July
BhutanPG2011 660 01
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Thitha-Tso, 4350m July
Garh 07 389 ergebnis
Garh 07 506 ergebnis
India Garhwal Khiar Kutti 3950m, June

Description

Primula macrophylla is a widespread high-alpine primrose ranging across the Himalaya and adjacent mountain systems, with GBIF records spanning India, Nepal, Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Bhutan among other territories and approaching a thousand documented occurrences. It is a plant of the upper alpine zone, growing on open rocky slopes, screes, moist alpine turf, glacial moraines and damp gravelly flats near snowmelt. It typically occupies elevations of roughly 3500-5000 m; the populations from the Ludlow-Sherriff Trail in Bhutan at Miluthang and Thitha-Tso (about 4350 m, July) and from Garhwal at Khiar Kutti (3950 m, June) exemplify its preference for cool, well-drained sites flowering through the early monsoon.

P. macrophylla is a robust, farinose perennial herb forming a stout rosette from a short rhizome. The leaves are large and elongate, oblanceolate to lanceolate, narrowed to a broad petiolar base, the lower surface densely covered with yellowish or whitish farina (mealy powder) and the margin entire to finely denticulate. The stout scape, also mealy, bears a dense terminal umbel of numerous flowers subtended by linear bracts. The flowers are heterostylous with a tubular calyx and a salverform purple to violet-purple corolla marked by a contrasting yellowish or whitish eye, the lobes notched at the apex. The fruit is a cylindrical capsule about equalling or exceeding the calyx and containing many small seeds.

The species belongs to Primula section Crystallophlomis (formerly Nivales), the great assemblage of farinose, large-flowered alpine primroses of the high Asian mountains, and is morphologically variable across its vast range, with several infraspecific taxa recognised by various authors. Its broad distribution and abundance suggest it is not of conservation concern, although high-elevation populations are inherently exposed to climate-driven shifts in snow cover and to localised grazing.

Author: D.Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, The Genus Primula (Richards)

Primulaceae

Primula megalocarpa

by GP Jürgens

H.Hara

BhutanPG2011 637 01
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Laden-Tso, 4300m July

Description

Primula megalocarpa H.Hara is a high-alpine primula of the eastern and central Himalaya, recorded from Nepal, Bhutan, northern India and south-western China, with around 109 georeferenced occurrences in GBIF. It inhabits open alpine turf, moist rocky slopes, moraine and the margins of late-lying snowbeds, generally between about 3800 and 4800 m. The collection cited from the Ludlow-Sherriff trail at Laden-Tso at 4300 m in July is typical of its ecology, flowering as the snow retreats in habitats kept cool and damp by glacial meltwater and frequent cloud.

It is a small farinose perennial forming a compact rosette from a slender rootstock. The leaves are obovate to oblanceolate, narrowed to a winged base, with a finely toothed margin and a white- or yellow-farinose lower surface. Short scapes carry one to few violet to purple, flat-faced flowers; the corolla lobes are obcordate and notched, surrounding a farinose eye, and the calyx is farinose and lobed to about the middle. As the epithet megalocarpa implies, the species is notable for its conspicuously enlarged capsule, which is ovoid and considerably exceeds the calyx at maturity, a feature that readily separates it from related dwarf alpine species.

The enlarged fruit places it among the small-flowered cushion-forming primulas of section Minutissimae and allied groups, where it is distinguished chiefly by capsule size and farina distribution. Like many nival primulas it is tied to a narrow alpine belt and dependent on reliable snow cover, making such species sensitive indicators of shifting snowlines. No conservation status has been published, but its high-altitude niche warrants monitoring.

Author: H.Hara · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Smith & Fletcher monograph of Primula

Primulaceae

Primula mollis

by GP Jürgens

Nutt. ex Hook.

Bh09 360 G577
Bhutan Wangdi, 2300m June

Description

Primula mollis is a softly hairy perennial of the Eastern Himalaya and adjacent Indo-Burmese ranges, with verified occurrences in China, Myanmar, Bhutan and India (additional GBIF records from Belgium, Britain and the Czech Republic reflect its cultivation by alpine enthusiasts). It grows in damp, shaded situations along forest margins, stream banks and moist rocky banks at moderate elevations, typically between about 2000 and 3000 m. The illustrated plant from near Wangdi in central Bhutan at around 2300 m in June shows the species flowering in the early monsoon, when the humid conditions it favours prevail.

The whole plant is conspicuously clothed in soft spreading hairs, the feature memorialised in the epithet mollis. The leaves form a basal rosette and are ovate to oblong, shallowly lobed and toothed, cordate at the base and borne on hairy petioles. From the rosette rises a stout, hairy scape carrying several superposed whorls (a candelabra arrangement) of flowers. Each flower has a tubular calyx and a salver-shaped corolla that is rose-pink to crimson with a darker or yellowish eye, the limb shallowly notched. The fruit is a small capsule enclosed within the persistent calyx and dehiscing to release numerous angular seeds.

Primula mollis is placed in section Cortusoides (Petiolares group of broader treatments), characterised by soft-textured, lobed, hairy leaves and whorled inflorescences. It is a long-cultivated woodland primula, and ecologically contributes to the herb layer of humid montane forest, where it is pollinated by insects attracted to its bright corollas. Across its range it remains locally frequent and is not considered threatened, though it depends on the persistence of moist, lightly shaded montane habitats.

Author: Nutt. ex Hook. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Richards' monograph Primula

Primulaceae

Primula obliqua

by GP Jürgens

W. W. Sm.

BhutanPG2011 409
Bhutan Jule-Tso, 4300m June

Description

Primula obliqua W. W. Sm. is a robust alpine primrose of the eastern Himalaya, recorded by GBIF from Nepal, India, Bhutan and China across some 183 occurrences. It is a plant of the upper alpine zone, growing on cool, humid open slopes, rocky meadows, moraine and the margins of melting snow patches, generally between 3800 and 4800 m. The plant photographed at Jule-Tso in Bhutan at about 4300 m in June, when the snow has just retreated, illustrates its preference for high, well-watered sites where it flowers early in the short alpine summer.

The species forms a stout perennial rosette of large, oblong to oblanceolate leaves that are somewhat fleshy and conspicuously dusted, especially when young, with pale yellowish or whitish farina on the undersurface and stem. The leaves taper to a broadly winged petiole and have finely toothed margins. From the centre rises a stout scape bearing an umbel of several nodding flowers; the corolla is broadly campanulate, pale yellow to cream or greenish-yellow, with a short tube and spreading lobes, and the calyx and pedicels are mealy. The flowers are heterostylous, and the fruit is a capsule shorter than to about equalling the calyx.

Primula obliqua is classified in section Crystallophlomis (Nivales), a group of large-flowered, often farinose high-alpine primulas centred on the Sino-Himalayan mountains. It is distinguished within the section by its drooping, pale yellowish, mealy flowers. With a restricted but apparently stable range in remote high terrain, it is not currently regarded as threatened, though as a snow-bed and high-alpine specialist it is potentially vulnerable to climate-driven changes in snow cover. It exemplifies the rich endemic radiation of Primula along the eastern Himalayan arc.

Author: W. W. Sm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Richards monograph Primula

Primulaceae

Primula petiolaris

by GP Jürgens

Wall.

Nepal 95 108 P193 ergebnis
Nepal below Rupien La 3050m October
Garh 07 103 ergebnis
India Garhwal Meggu Kichatti 3100m, June
Garh 07 102 ergebnis
India Garhwal Meggu Kichatti 3100m, June

Description

Primula petiolaris Wall. is a small, cushion- or mat-forming primrose of the Himalaya, distributed through Nepal, northern India, Bhutan and south-west China. It is a plant of cool, moist, shaded sites in the upper-temperate to alpine zone, growing on humus-rich banks, in rock crevices, beside streams and on mossy ledges, typically around 3000 to 4000 m. The recorded gatherings from below the Rupien La in Nepal at 3050 m and from Meggu Kichatti in Garhwal at 3100 m, the latter flowering in June soon after snowmelt, illustrate its early-season flowering in damp, semi-shaded high-mountain habitats where it forms low rosettes among rocks and moss.

The plant is a low, tufted perennial forming dense rosettes of obovate to spathulate leaves that taper gradually into a winged petiole (the basis of the epithet petiolaris), with finely toothed margins and a somewhat fleshy texture. The flowers are borne singly or in small clusters nestled within or just above the foliage on very short scapes, so that the plant appears almost stemless at flowering. Each flower has a tubular calyx and a salver-shaped corolla, rose-pink to purple with a contrasting white or yellowish eye ringing the throat. As in many primulas the species is heterostylous, with pin and thrum flower forms, and sets a small capsule releasing numerous fine seeds.

Primula petiolaris belongs to the large Himalayan radiation of section Petiolares, an intricate group of early-flowering, rosette-forming primroses whose species delimitation has long challenged taxonomists. Its precocious flowering, often as snow recedes, points to early-emerging insects as pollinators. Choice plants of this section are prized by alpine-garden growers, but P. petiolaris remains widespread and is not regarded as threatened, though its specialised montane microhabitats are sensitive to disturbance and climatic change.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China (Primulaceae), Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, The Genus Primula (Richards)

Primulaceae

Primula primulina

by GP Jürgens

(Spreng.) Hara

BhutanPG2011 625 01
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Shashuna-Dem-Tso, 3900m June
Sikkim2003 327 P464
Sikkim Saniti-Lake 4200m August

Description

Primula primulina is a dwarf alpine primrose of the Himalayan high country, distributed through Nepal, northern India, Bhutan and southern China, with several hundred georeferenced occurrences recorded in GBIF. It is a cushion- or mat-forming species of the upper alpine and nival zones, growing on open stony slopes, moist alpine turf, rock ledges and the margins of high-elevation tarns kept moist by late snowmelt. The material from the Ludlow-Sherriff Trail at Shashuna-Dem-Tso in Bhutan (about 3900 m, June) and from Saniti Lake in Sikkim (4200 m, August) reflects its association with glacial lake basins and its summer flowering across the monsoon months.

P. primulina is a diminutive, densely tufted perennial forming low rosettes or compact cushions from a slender branching rootstock. The leaves are small, oblanceolate to spathulate, often densely crowded, with an entire or finely toothed margin and frequently bearing farina, the rosettes sometimes marcescent at the base. The flowers are borne singly or few together on very short scapes scarcely exceeding the foliage, giving an almost sessile appearance. The corolla is salverform with a slender tube and spreading, notched lobes, typically rose-purple to pink with a paler or yellowish eye; the calyx is tubular and lobed. The fruit is a small capsule enclosed by or barely exceeding the persistent calyx.

The species is placed in Primula section Minutissimae, the group of minute, cushion-forming Sino-Himalayan primroses to which P. primulina lends its name as a characteristic member. Long-established synonymy reflects its complex nomenclatural history under several earlier basionyms. As a specialist of high-altitude snowbed and lakeshore microhabitats, it is closely tied to persistent snow cover and is therefore among the alpine taxa most likely to be affected by warming-driven contraction of suitable habitat, though it currently carries no formal conservation assessment.

Author: (Spreng.) Hara · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Genus Primula (Richards)

Primulaceae

Primula pulchra

by GP Jürgens

G.Watt

Sikkim2004 142 G244
Sikkim/India Singalila 3800m April

Description

Primula pulchra is an eastern Himalayan species distributed across Nepal, India, Bhutan, southern China (Xizang, Yunnan) and northern Myanmar, with GBIF documenting some 39 georeferenced occurrences across this comparatively narrow range. It is a plant of the upper temperate and subalpine zones, typically growing between about 3000 and 4300 m on moist, humus-rich slopes, in open Rhododendron scrub, along stream margins and on grazed alpine meadows that remain snow-covered for much of the winter. The photographed material from the Singalila Ridge on the Sikkim–West Bengal border at roughly 3800 m, flowering in April, is characteristic: the species is among the earliest primulas to bloom as the snowmelt recedes.

It is a small, rosette-forming perennial arising from a short rhizome with fibrous roots. The leaves are obovate to oblong-spathulate, narrowed to a winged petiole, the margin crenate-dentate, and the lower surface typically clad in a pale to yellowish farina. The scape carries a one- to few-flowered umbel subtended by short bracts. Flowers are heterostylous and showy, the corolla rose-purple to violet with a pale or yellow eye, the lobes obcordate and emarginate; the calyx is campanulate and often farinose. The fruit is a small capsule about equalling the persistent calyx, releasing numerous angular seeds.

Primula pulchra belongs to section Petiolares, a large, taxonomically intricate group of Sino-Himalayan primulas characterised by early flowering and resting-bud overwintering. Within it the species is allied to P. calderiana and P. boothii, from which it is separated by leaf shape, farina distribution and corolla detail; intergradation has complicated its delimitation. As a snow-bed and meadow specialist it is sensitive to grazing and to shifts in snow-lie driven by climate warming, though its presence in several protected high-altitude areas affords some security.

Author: G.Watt · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Smith & Fletcher monograph of the genus Primula, Richards 'Primula' (2003)