Primula bullata Franch.
Section Bullatae
Link to Flora of China description (bullata)
Link to Flora of China description (bracteata)
Link to Flora of China description (forrestii)
Type specimen: Delavay 114 resides at Paris (lectotype specimen P04571678) and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (isolectotype specimen E00024054) and KEW (isolectotype specimens K000732890, K000732893) and New York Botanical Garden (isolectotype specimen 329536).
Primula bullata Franch. var. bracteata (Franch.) P.Eveleigh, J.Nielsen & D.W.H.Rankin.
Primula bullata Franch. var. delavayi D.W.H.Rankin. Rock Gard. No. 140, pg.93. 2018.
Primula bullata Franch. var. forrestii (Balf.f) P.Eveleigh, J.Nielsen & D.W.H.Rankin.
P. bracteata Franch. (syn), Type specimen: Delavay 2 resides at Paris (lectotype specimen P04571601) and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (isolectotype specimen E00024050).
P. forrestii Balf.f. (syn), Type specimen: Forrest 2117 resides at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (lectotype specimen E00024058) and at KEW (isolectotype specimens K000732884, K000732885) and at Paris (isolectotype specimen P04567363) and at British Museum (isolectotype specimens BM000996813, BM000996814) and Smithsonian (isolectotype specimen US00116478).
P. forrestii Balf.f. var. redolens (Balf.f. & Kingdon-Ward) A.J.Richards (syn).
P. redolens Balf.f. & Kingdon-Ward (syn), Type specimen: Cultivated RBGE, 1915 resides at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (lectotype specimen E00564738, isolectotype specimen E00564739).
P. rufa Balf.f. (syn), Type specimen: Delavay 305 resides at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (holotype specimen E00024055).
P. ulophylla Hand.-Mazz. (syn), Type specimen: Handel-Mazzetti 6238 resides at Univeristy of Vienna (lectotype specimen WU0059699) and at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (isolectotype specimen E00024052).
Reference Paper: P.Eveleigh, J.Nielsen & D.W.H.Rankin, Bot. Mag. (Kew Mag.) 31(4): 366. 2014.
Epithet: Named for the bullate leaves.
Distribution: Yunnan, China.
The images below are first P. bullata var bullata, followed by P. bullata var bracteata, followed by P. bullata var forrestii, followed by P. bullata var delavayi. In 2014, P. Eveleigh, J. Nielsen and D.W.H. Rankin studied the Bullatae Section with the result that P. bracteata and P. forrestii are combined as varieties of P. bullata. Reasoning behind this is explained in the Reference Paper listed above. This species is distinguished by being long-lived, subshrubby, forming branched woody stems covered with the dried leaves of previous years near the apex and leaf scars below. The leaves are bullate, rugose, vary in size and in winter are smaller with short or no petiole, and with farina underneath and in summer larger with a longer petiole and no farina. Flowers are yellow. See also a blog post on this.
