Primula occlusa W.W.Sm.
Section Minutissimae
Link to Flora of China description
Type specimen: Ludlow and Sherriff 725 resides at E (specimen E00024536) and BM (specimen BM000996897).
P. pusilla var flabellata W.W.Sm., Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh. 19:173. 1936.
Epithet: Named for the hairs which occlude the throat of the flower.
Distribution: S Tibet and Arunachal Pradesh, Bhutan.
Primula occlusa is a small plant (2.5-5cm). Leaves flabelliform or sub-orbicular, rounded at the apex, serrate-dentate in the upper half and covered above and on the veins below with short hairs giving a scabrid appearance. Leaves are generally efarinose but may sometimes have small patches of farina. Leaves are tight and often recurved under when young, more lax later. Scape is farinose at the apex, bracts are leafy. Flowers are purple with a white eye and a pompon of white hairs in the throat. This species is very close to P. primulina and was identified initially as a variety of it, but it differs in the orbicular leaf shape, tendency to single flowers and broader bracts.
