Primula biserrata Forrest, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh. 4:230. 1908., plate XLI.
Section Proliferae
Link to Flora of China description (as P. serratifolia)
Type specimen: Forrest 1816, 2974, 4100 resides at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (specimen E00024076) and KEW (specimen K000732860).
P. japonica (reference): Hemsley, J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 29:313. 1893. Type specimen: A. Henry 8879, Pratt 130, Pratt 356 resides at Kew ? = P. pulverulenta.
P. japonica (reference): Diels, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 29:521. 1900. Type specimen: A. Henry 8879 resides at Kew ? = P. pulverulenta.
P. serratifolia (syn pro parte): Pax non Franchet in , Engler, Pflanzenr. IV. 237 (Heft 22):126. 1905. Type specimen: Delavay 111, A. Henry 8879, Pratt 130 resides at Paris (see above) and Kew ?
P. serratifolia Franchet, nom. illeg. later homonym non Gand. (1876) Bull. Soc. Bot. France. 32: 267. 1885. Type specimen: Delavay 111 (June 20, August 4, 1884) resides at Paris (specimens P04544692, P04544697, P04544698, P04544834, P04544841, P04544842) and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (specimen E00024077) and KEW (specimens K000732861, K000732862) and Herbier de l’Universite Montpellier (specimens MPU022008, MPU022009, MPU022010) and Natural History Museum (specimens BM000996927, MB000996926).
P. serratifolia var. roseo-tincta (syn): W. W. Smith in W. W. Smith & Forrest, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh. 15: 254. 1927. Type specimen: Forrest 26821, 27298 resides at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (specimens E00024404, E00024405) and US National Herbarium (specimen US00116513) and Paris (specimen P04544832). Flowers pale yellow flushed with rose on the margins. Collected once.
P. serratifolia var. unicolor (syn): W. W. Smith in W. W. Smith & Forrest, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh. 15: 255. 1927. Type specimen: Forrest 26811, 27311 resides at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (specimen E00024406) and US National Herbarium (specimen US00116514) and Paris (specimen P04544845). Solid yellow flowers without the white border. Collected once. This should be compared with P. morsheadiana and P. melanodonta.
Epithet: Named for the serrated leaf margin.
Distribution: Yunnan, SE Tibet, N Burma (Myanmar).
In Franchet's description, he failed to point out the most noticable characteristic of this species: the flowers are bicolored, yellow with a white border on the petals (He described them as yellow only). However some of the specimens of Delavay 111 from August 4, 1884 do have this noted on the label. Franchet also compared this species to P. japonica in Bull. Soc. Bot. France 33:68. 1886. and incorrectly gives the flower color as purple. This lead to some confusion and so we have collections by Henry and Pratt being described as P. japonica and then later combined by Pax with Delavay 111 as P. serratifolia (see references above). This also lead Forrest to believe he had found a new plant at Delavay's location and so described the species P. biserrata. This is fortunate because the name "Primula serratifolia" had been used earlier by Gandoger to describe a form of P. auricula from France and so Franchet's name becomes a later homonym and therefor invalid, so Forrest's name stands as the correct one for the species.
The type was collected on the Cang Shan near Dali, Yunnan, but it is distributed westwards through to Northern Burma (Myanmar). P. biserrata is efarinose with oblong to obovate leaves with a round apex and irregularly dentate margins. The scapes may produce one or two umbels of 5-10 flowers. The calyx is ribbed, cut to the middle into triangular lobes, apiculate at the tip. The last two images are from the western part of the distribution. If you have more images of this species from the western part of its range, please contact the webmaster.
