Primula atrodentata W.W.Sm., Rec. Bot. Surv. India. 4: 217. 1911.
Section Denticulata
Link to Flora of China description
Link to Flora of Bhutan description
Link to Nepal checklist
Type specimen: W.W. Smith & Cave 2007 (lectotype) resides at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (specimen E00024426) and KEW (specimen K000750311).
P. atrodentata W.W.Sm. subsp. orestora (Craib & Cooper) (syn): W.W.Sm. & Forrest, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh. 16: 21. 1928.
P. orestora (syn): Craib & Cooper, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh. 10: 205. 1918. Type specimen: Cooper 3837 resides at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (specimen E00024425).
Distribution: Himalayas, Kumaon (Uttarakhand) through Nepal, Sikkim (type location), Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh, SE Tibet.
Can be difficult to tell from small forms of P. denticulata but distinguished by being evergreen, lacking basal bud scales (but may have the remains of old foliage at the base) and by having a white eye. Leaves elliptic to oblong or spathulate, rounded to obtuse at the apex, tapering at the base into a short or obsolete petiole (sometimes can be as long as the blade), margin denticulate, both sides with minutely scabrid glandular hairs, occasionally white or yellow farinose below. Scape 1-15cm, elongating to 30(-45)cm in fruit, farinose at the apex with a capitate umbel of few to many mauve or pale blue-violet flowers (sometimes pink or white), with deeply emarginate lobes. Bracts linear-lanceolate, with an acute apex and a gibbose base. Calyx campanulate 5-7mm, glandular or sparcely farinose, often densely farinose inside, parted slightly below the middle into lanceolate lobes. This species has a wide distribution across the Himalaya. See related P. denticulata, also P. erosa, P. assamica, P. capitata.
