保康报春 bao kang bao chun

Primula baokongensis Chen & C. M. Hu; P. malvacea subsp. rosthornii (Diels) W. W. Smith & Forrest; P. rosthornii Diels.

Herbs perennial. Leaves forming a rosette; petiole 3--7 cm, with dense tangled tawny hairs; leaf blade suborbicular to broadly ovate, 3--7 cm wide, abaxially with longer hairs along veins, adaxially sparsely pilose, base deeply cordate, margin sinuate-lobulate; lobules broadly triangular, margin irregularly dentate, apex obtuse. Scapes 4--18 cm, with dense tangled tawny hairs; umbels 1 or 2, superimposed, 3--7-flowered; bracts linear-lanceolate, ca. 6 mm, pubescent. Pedicel 0.8--1.5 cm, densely pilose. Flowers homostylous. Calyx narrowly campanulate, 7--9 mm, sparsely pilose, parted to middle or slightly below; lobes oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 1.5--3 mm wide, herbaceous, ciliate. Corolla purplish rose; tube 7--8 mm, ca. as long as calyx; limb 1--1.2 cm wide; lobes obovate emarginate. Stamens at upper part of corolla tube. Style reaching stamens. Capsule unknown. Fl. May-Jul.

* Grassy slopes in mountain valleys; 1300--1600 m. NW Hubei, SE Gansu, E Sichuan

This species was erroneously reduced to Primula malvacea by W. W. Smith and H. R. Fletcher. More recent additional material shows that the two species can easily be separated by the shape of the calyx lobes, which are oblong to oblong-lanceolate in P. neurocalyx and broadly ovate to elliptic in P. malvacea.