独花报春 du hua bao chun

Primula vinciflora Franchet, Gard. Chron., Ser. 3, 1: 574. 1887; Omphalogramma engleri (R. Knuth) I. B. Balfour; O. rockii W. W. Smith; O. viola-grandis (Farrer & Purdom) I. B. Balfour; P. engleri R. Knuth; P. viola-grandis Farrer & Purdom.

Plants perennial; base with overlapping bud scales; scales yellowish brown, broadly ovate to oblong. Leaves developing at same time as flowers; petiole winged, not well-differentiated or to 2 X as long as leaf blade; leaf blade oblanceolate to oblong or obovate, 3--14 X 1--3(--4) cm, with multicellular hairs, base usually attenuate but occasionally subrounded to cordulate, margin entire to very obscurely crenulate, apex obtuse. Scapes (8--)10--35 cm, elongating to 80 cm in fruit, spreading pubescent, especially near apex. Calyx 5--10 mm, fulvous-pilose outside, parted nearly to base; lobes 6--8, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, apex obtuse. Corolla deep indigo-blue, salverform; tube cylindric, 2.3--3 cm, brownish glandular pubescent outside; limb 3--4(--5) cm wide, 6--8-lobed; lobes variable, usually obovate to obovate-elliptic, 1--2.5 X ca. 1 cm, shallowly to deeply emarginate. Filaments 3--5 mm, glabrous; anthers oblong, 1.5--2 mm. Ovary and style glabrous. Capsule ca. 2 cm. Fl. May-Jun.

* Damp meadows, shrubs; 2200--4600 m. S Gansu, N and W Sichuan, E Xizang, NW Yunnan.