22. Primula reidii Duthie in Report Saharanpur, Bot. Gard. 1885. in Gard. Chron. 2, ser. 15, 277. 1886; Hook. f. in Curtis Bot. Mag. t. 6961.1887; Watt, l.c. 298.307; Pax in Engler, Pflanzenr. 22: (iv. 237). 67.1905; W.W. Smith & H.R. Fletcher in J. Linn. Soc. 52:328.1941; Ludlow, l.c. 206.
YASIN J. NASIR
An efarinose pubescent plant. Leaves (including petiole) 4.5-11 x 1.4-2.5 cm, elliptic-oblong or elliptic-lanceolate, denticulate to obscurely crenulate, pubescent to subvillous, obtuse. Scape 5-11 cm long, up to 16 cm in fruit, 1-3-flowered, barely equalling or exceeding the foliage, minutely pubescent. Bracts 3-3.5 mm long, campanulate, 1 /3 rd cleft, into irregular glandular toothed and obtuse apiculate lobes. Corolla tube broad, exceeding the calyx; lobes broad, oblong, sometimes slightly retuse. Capsule subglobose, membranous, included in the calyx. Seeds c. 1 mm long, brown.
Fl. Per.: June-July.
Holotype: Ralam-Thal, 4000-4300 m, Kumaon, on wet rocks, Duthie 3133 (K!).
Distribution: N.W. Himalaya from Kashmir to Kumaon, W. Nepal.
The species is not common in Kashmir. Found on damp rocks and steep rocky places near water from 3300-3800 m. The flowers are ivory white and scent-ed. Watt (l.c. 307), states the flowers to be pale yellow. Related to Primula wigramiana Smith from Nepal, which is a larger plant with an exannulate corolla. Gould (in Hara, Chater & Williams, Enum. Flow. Pl. Nepal, 3:1982), considers 2 varieties of Primula reidii, of which the var. reidii is found in Pakistan.
