Primula cinerascens Franchet subsp. violodora (Dunn) W. W. Smith & Forrest; P. neurocalyx Franchet subsp. riparia (I. B. Balfour & Farrer) W. W. Smith & Forrest; P. riparia I. B. Balfour & Farrer; P. violodora Dunn.

Herbs perennial. Leaves forming a rosette; petiole 2--9 cm, with spreading long hairs; leaf blade broadly ovate to suborbicular, 1.5--6(--9) X 1.5--5.5(--8.5) cm, abaxially with thick grayish white multicellular hairs along veins, adaxially densely pubescent, base cordate, margin obscurely sinuate-lobulate, apex rounded; lobules subrotund, margin minutely denticulate. Scapes 8--25 cm, lanate basally, becoming puberulent apically; umbels usually 1(or rarely 2), superimposed, 3--8(--10)-flowered; bracts linear-lanceolate, 3--6 mm. Pedicel 0.6--2.5 cm, glabrescent. Flowers heterostylous. Calyx narrowly campanulate, 4.5--7 mm, pubescent to nearly glabrous, parted to middle or slightly below; lobes lanceolate; veins 3. Corolla rose-purple to pink; tube 6.5--8 mm; limb 1.2--1.8 cm wide; lobes obovate, 6--9 mm, apex 2-cleft. Pin flowers: stamens near middle of corolla tube; style reaching top of tube. Thrum flowers with positions reciprocal. Capsule ovoid, shorter than calyx. Fl. Apr-May.

* Shaded moist areas on mountain slopes and in forests; 1500--2800 m. SE Gansu, W Hubei, E Sichuan.