Part 106 - Notes on Primulas in Tang Chu area

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SUMMARY:
Notes compare Primula specimens: No. 2305, likely a variety of P. griffithii from 14,000–15,000 ft, resembling No. 21621 from Chikchar, Tsari (May 1936), with early, low, non-whorled flowering on open grassy slopes. No. 3227 is identified as P. hopeana, noted as unusually early; Cooper collected it on 20th June and 1st July, with later flowering previously observed in Tsari and in Tibet.

CONTENT:
Notes on Primulas in Tang Chu area.

No. 2305. This seems most likely to be a var. of P. Griffithii. I have not yet come across P. Griffithii, which is almost always found in forest, under Abies or Rhododendron, at 10-11,000 ft. No. 2305 comes from 14,000-15,000 ft. It resembles in many ways my No. 21621 from Chikchar, Tsari, taken in May 1936. The habitat is the same, open steep grassy slopes, where snow has lately melted. It grows in masses: it is almost precocious, and it has little or no farina. Probably to this can be added, it never flowers in whorls, or very large flowered. Where it most resembles 1621 is in flowering when only 1-2 inches high, when the leaves have hardly started to open, and in its habitat - well separated by 2,000 ft from the forest.

No. 3227 Primula Hopeana. If I am right in determining this primula as P. Hopeana, then it seems a very early flower. Cooper got it on 20th June and 1st July, whereas last year in Tsari we were finding it in August and quite late in Aug (or September). Its habitat seems much the same as in Tibet, (but the flower is more [narrowly bell-shaped] than [widely bell-shaped] which latter is how it grows in Tibet). It was certainly seen there, here where avalanche snow had prevented it coming up earlier, but this