Recent New Primula Species

Primula hydrocotylifolia.

The New Year is a good time to reflect on what is new in Primula. In my Original Description Project, the list of all Primula species is a moving target. In particular, there have been several new Chinese species discovered and described recently but new species aren't limited to China. New species include:

Primula anthemifolia G.Hao, C.M.Hu &  Y.Xu - This tiny species has leaves which resemble those of the Genus Anthemis (pinnately dissected) and was found in Sichuan. It is a member of section Aleuritia, subsection Glabra.

Primula dejuniana G.Hao, C.M.Hu & Y.Xu - Discovered in Sichuan, this species is a member of section Petiolares, subsection Davidii and resembles P. davidii and P. tenuituba but is distinguished by the leaves.

Primula hunanensis G.Hao, C.M.Hu & X.L.Yu - This species is named for the province of Hunan where it was discovered. It is a member of section Carolinella which is noted for its calyptrate (opening by a lid) capsules and is similar to Primula levicalyx.

Primula hydrocotylifolia G.Hao, C.M.Hu & Y.Xu - Discovered in Sichuan and very similar to Primula veitchiana but is smaller and less floriferous. See above and the Species Gallery for more images.

Primula pelargoniifolia G.Hao, C.M.Hu & Z.Y.Liu - A yellow flowered species discovered in Chongqing and most similar to members of section Cortusoides. Named for the "Geranium" like leaves (Pelargonium).

Primula subpyrenaica Aymerich, L.Sáez & López-Alvarado - Discovered in the Pyrenean range in the NE Iberian Peninsula, this species is in section Auricula and is closely related to Primula auricula.

Primula wawushanica G.Hao, C.M.Hu & Y.Xu - The paper for this is accepted but not yet published at this time. It was discovered in Sichuan and is a member of section Petiolares, subsection Davidii.

There are also changes to the taxonomy of Primula. They include:

Primula bullata Franch. var. bracteata (Franch.) P.Eveleigh, J.Nielsen & D.W.H.Rankin
Primula bullata Franch. var. forrestii (Balf.f.) P.Eveleigh, J.Nielsen & D.W.H.Rankin

From the book "The Genus Primula L. in India":
Primula bella Franch. var. moschophora (Balf.f. & Forrest) S.K.Basak & Mati
Primula calderiana Balf.f & R.E.Cooper var. strumosa (Balf.f. & R.E.Cooper) S.K.Basak, Maiti & Hajra
Primula firmipes Balf.f. & Forrest subsp. subansirica (G.D.Pal) S.K.Basak & Maiti
Primula tanneri King var. nepalensis (A.J.Richards) S.K.Basak & Maiti
Primula tanneri King var. peralata (W.W.Sm. & Fletcher) S.K.Basak & Maiti

Happy New Year and Best Wishes to All in 2016!

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The Truth about the Blue Nivalids (P. melanops)

Habitat of Primula melanops.

Primula melanops is a name which many people know from cultivated plants, but what is the true species? It was first collected by Handel-Mazzetti in Muli, north of Yanyuan, in 1914, but he didn't describe the plant until 1924 using the name P. leucochnoa. By then, Kingdon Ward had also collected the same species (in 1921) from Muli, very close to the same place and it was then described by Smith and Ward in 1923 as P. melanops, and so that name has priority. There is no doubt they are the same species. In 2009, I saw plants which are this species, but unfortunately the flowers had already gone over. What I would have expected to see are flowers of "deep Tyrian purple, black in the centre" as stated in the original description.


Pam photographing Primula melanops in Muli

Richards includes P. melanops in is his broad definition of P. chionantha, a variable complex of plants, stating that the character used to distinguish between P. melanops and P. chionantha is primarily the color of the farina, and is of no consequence. The original description of P. melanops compared it with P. sinopurpurea but the differences were that it was smaller, white farinose on the leaves, flowers deep purple with a black eye and a long capsule to 2.5cm. The plant in flower is 10-15cm and 35cm in fruit.

Primula melanops in Muli

I don’t have pictures of true P. melanops in flower either in the wild or grown from seed collections from Muli. Because Richards lists it as part of P. chionantha, plants from many different locations have been identified as this species. For example, plants from the Beima Shan in NW Yunnan have been identified as P. melanops but other species that are part of the Blue Nivalids have type locations in this area, so it is more likely that the plants belong to a related species, not P. melanops. I have listed Primula melanops separately in the Species Gallery, where you can find links to the herbarium sheets, but Richards’ point may be valid.

This post is one in a series about Chinese blue nivalids. See the introduction post.

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The Truth about the Blue Nivalids (P. farreriana)

Primula farreriana was collected by Farrer and Purdom in the “Ta-Tung Alps, Kansu” in June and July, 1915 (F. 560, Primula No. 29). Ta-tung is a small mountain range east of Qinghai Lake, Qinghai and could be considered a southern extension of the Quilian (Qilian) mountains. Farrer is well know for his descriptive prose, and there are several writings about the 1915 expedition and the Primula itself. His book “The Rainbow Bridge” is a full account of this expedition which started in Sining (Xining, Qinghai) and explored north and slightly east from there. For a few months, Farrer and Purdom made "Wolvesden house" their base and they explored as far to the east as Tien-tang (Tiantangcun) and as far north as Gan Chang Ssu (Ganchankou). Though there is a map in this book, in his “Report of Work in 1915 in Kansu and Tibet” in the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society vol XLII, there is a crude map, but with better detailed locations.

Farrer's full description of his discovery of Primula farreriana is worth reading, but who could not covet a plant with flowers "And they are of a loveliness singular and phantasmal in their family, very large and ample and round-faced, of a faint blue lavender so subtle as to be almost a French grey, gradually suffused with a white radiation from the misty bull's-eye of intense black-purple at their throat, which continues down the tube inside and out"? In Farrer's famous book "The English Rock-Garden" there is a black and white photograph taken by Purdom of Primula farreriana in the wild.

Primula farreriana was described by Balfour in 1916 and there are type specimens at the British Museum, Kew, two at Royal Botanic Garden (here and here) and the Smithsonian. Farrer's field note, tells us that this species likes shady crevices (in small soil pockets) on either limestone or granite and that it can form large colonies. This species is more robust that other nivalids with thick stocks of sheathing petioles and bud scales, the leaves are elliptic or oblong-elliptic with an obtuse or subacute apex and with an obtusely denticulate margin. The underside of the leaves is covered in thick white farina, as is the apex of the scape and the pedicels. The flowers are pale lavender-blue, prominently annulate and with a dark purple eye and tube. The bracts are linear with a broad base and the calyx is tubular campanulate and tinged with purple.

It is distinct from other similar species by the corolla lobes which are emarginate (notched), the widely winged petioles, the prominent annulus, long bracts and dark colored calyx. Primula woodwardii grows in the same range and has entire corolla lobes and is more pink in color. Apparently P. farreriana has not been in cultivation. If you have a picture of this species, please contact the webmaster.

This post is one in a series about Chinese blue nivalids. See the introduction post.

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The Truth about the Blue Nivalids (introduction)

I guess the first truth is that they really aren't blue, but they are certainly species which have purple flowers on the blue tone, rather than the red tone.

 

Secondly, the Nivalids are what we call members of the Crystallophlomis Section which use to be called the Nivales Section by Pax. These are all sturdy species which overwinter as large resting buds, have spear shaped, fleshy and usually farinose leaves often extending into a sheath like stalk.
The most enigmatic of the blue nivalids are the Chinese species: P. farreriana, P. hoi, P. ionantha, P. lancifolia, P. leucochnoa, P. limbata, P. longipetiolata, P. melanops, P. optata, P. russeola, P. sinonivalis, P. woonyoungiana, P. youngeriana. There are other blue nivalid species, like P. macrophylla, but they belong in a separate discussion.

Below is a table comparing views of Halda, Richards and the Flora of China regarding these names. All agree on P. farreriana, P. woonyoungeriana, youngeriana and P. hoi*. Primula russeola is also consistent with the exception of Halda also listing P. nivalis var melanantha as a synonym. This is definitely incorrect as this is a synonym of P. melanantha, the famous black primula which is now well known from the Zheduo Pass, Sichuan.

Where they differ significantly is in P. limbata, P. longipetiolata, P. optata, P. melanops and P. leucochnoa. Halda confusingly has P. limbata and P. longipetiolata as both distinct and as synonyms.

 

Halda	Richards	Flora of China
farreriana	farreriana	farreriana
hoi*	hoi	hoi
woonyoungiana	woonyoungiana	woonyoungiana
youngeriana	youngeriana	youngeriana
russeola      ionantha      lancifolia      nivalis var melanantha	russeola      ionantha      lancifolia	russeola      ionantha      lancifolia
melanops	synonym of chionantha subsp melanops	melanops      leucochnoa
leucochnoa	synonym of chionantha subsp melanops	synonym of melanops
limbata      sinonivalis      longipetiolata	limbata      sinonivalis      longipetiolata      tsiangiae	limbata      sinonivalis
longipetiolata      limbata      nivalis var melanatha      sinonivalis	synonym of P. limbata	synonym of P. optata
optata      limbata smith	optata	optata      longipetiolata

*P. hoi (formerly "hoii", but the spelling has been corrected according to the IAPT code of nomenclature).

In order to understand these species I am researching the original descriptions, type locations, type herbarium specimens and expedition routes of the original collectors to try and understand the similarities and differences between these species. I take nothing for granted, and even though there is agreement between authorities, it is prudent to review all of these species in light of today's information.

This is the first post in a series, with subsequent posts describing these species. I will update this post as I write each new post in the series, so there will always be links to the other posts at the bottom of this one.

1. Primula farreriana post is here.
2. Primula melanops post is here.
3. Primula longipetiolata post is here.
 

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The Chinese Virtual Herbarium (CVH)

A plant species is usually described from a type specimen which is stored in a herbarium. In trying to understand the Genus Primula, I look at Primula herbarium specimens which have been scanned and are available online on websites of herbariums around the world. Relevant websites can be found on my reference page. Sometimes a portal website is created that allows searching through specimens found at several herbariums. The Chinese Virtual Herbarium is a portal into many Chinese herbariums including PE (Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing), CDBI (Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chengdu), HITBC (Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Academia Sinica, Xishuangbanna), and LBG (Lushan Botanical Garden, Lushan). The herbarium codes can be determined through the Index Herbariorum website.

Logos for the herbariums accessible through the CVH

Ok, so you can't read Chinese! Don't panic, as Google Translate does a pretty good job of translating the Chinese to English (or another language). Just type in the URL http://www.cvh.ac.cn/ in the left box, select Chinese for the language, select English on the right box and click the Translate button. You will see that the CVH search box is capable of using the Scientific name, Chinese name, Collection Number, Collection Location, or the Herbarium Barcode Number. Unfortunately, you can't then use the translated website to enter your data in, just the Chinese version.

Search by Species Name

The easiest search is by leaving the first search type selected (indicated by the black dot) which is search by Species Name, enter the species name and click the green search button. This gives you a list of specimens found at various herbariums for that species. It includes specimens which have scanned images, indicated by a camera symbol. Above is an example using Primula falcifolia. Three of the herbarium sheets are scanned and by clicking on the Herbarium Barcode in the first column a new tab will open with information about the specimen and an image of the sheet. At the bottom of the image is "大图下载 " which is a link to the largest sized version of the image (though often this isn't much bigger). Generally, the scans aren't of high quality, but that should improve over time. Copy and paste the URL for the sheet into Google Translate to get a rough indication of the details for the specimen. Often the translation for locations is too literal, and some sleuthing is required to figure them out exactly (see tab information below).

Original description of Primula homogama

The other type of search I use frequently is by Collection Number (third search type selected, indicated by the black dot). This is the number used by the collector and for types, is listed in the original description. Why would I use this when I can just put in the species name? Sometimes the herbarium sheets are stored under incorrect or unverified names which differ. For example, typing in "Primula homogama" using the species name search returns two results at this time, but neither are type collections. Using the number "31478" which is listed in the original description of Primula homogama above, 28 records are found of various Genera, all with the collection number "31478", but also including four Primula sheets, two under the name "Primula incisa" and two under the name "primula nutantiflora". In theory these four sheets are of the same collection and should be identified the same and the identification should all be Primula homogama. Note that the search results can be viewed by the herbarium barcode (default, first tab) or by number of sheets in each herbarium (second tab),  thumbnails of the specimens with images (third tab), or by map with specimen location shown (fourth tab, I am not sure how accurate this is).

Tip: Copy and Paste the Chinese characters for the Chinese name of a species (see the Flora of China website) and use that to search for images.

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The Original Description Project

The Genus Primula was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753

I started writing blog posts for Primula World as a means of keeping track of research I do behind the scenes while identifying Primula images for the Species Gallery. I consult many references in the process which includes Floras, monographs and related plant books. However these are all interpreted sources: that is, the author is writing about their views of a species. This is valuable in that the author may have seen numerous examples of the species in question, and can then better judge its variations, but for me going back to original sources is a key part of the process. This includes the type herbarium sheets, the original species description and any original documents from the initial collector such as field notes or diaries. It is also necessary to look at species which are considered synonyms: that is, species which were initially considered distinct, but now are considered a part of the variation of a previously described species. My goal is to have a copy of the original description of every Primula species ever described, including subspecies and varieties.

Since species have been described since the mid 1700's, how is it possible to find all the articles containing the original descriptions?

First I started with a list of the species names, including synonyms, from all references available to me. That includes websites such as Tropicos and The International Plant Names Index and books such as monographs or Floras. In some cases the reference website will provide a link to the actual description when it is available. Mainly this is to the reference website, the Biodiversity Heritage Library. The author citation in conjunction with the name is very important as a species name my have been used more than once by two different authorities for very different species. Unfortunately the list I have is not complete as no reference seems provide a definitive list. Often I find names of species from old herbarium sheets, which, thankfully, provide an authority or reference that helps me find the original description. Other times, when I find an original description, I read the rest of the article and find other original descriptions missing from my list (often subspecies or variations).

Beautiful drawings may be included with the original description.
This one from Tableau encyclopedique et methodique des trois règnes de la nature: Botanique

How far have I got on this project?

The IPNI lists over 1800 references for Primula names and Tropicos lists over 1200. So far I have descriptions for about 1400 names. Most of those are available online and when they are, I link to the original description for a species and all of its synonyms in the Species Gallery. If the reference isn't online, there is no link, but I may have a scanned copy of the description from books I have borrowed or from friends that have access to the reference I need. Obscure journals or recent papers still under copyright remain the most difficult for me to find, but slowly I have been tracking them down.

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