• Scientific Name: Primula sikkimensis Hook.
• Ref: Bot. Mag. 77: t.4597. 1851
• Synonyms:
  • Primula microdonta Franchet ex Petitmengin
  • P. microdonta var. alpicola W. W. Smith f. micromeres W. W. Smith
  • P. pseudosikkimensis Forrest
  • P. pudibunda W. W. Smith
  • P. sikkimensis subsp. pseudosikkimensis (Forrest) W. W. Smith & Forrest
  • P. sikkimensis subsp. pudibunda (W. W. Smith) W. W. Smith & Forrest
  • P. sikkimensis var. hookeri Stapf
  • P. sikkimensis var. lorifolia W. W. Smith
  • P. sikkimensis var. pudibunda (W. W. Smith) W. W. Smith & H. R. Fletcher
• English Common Name: Himalayan cowslip, Sikkim cowslip
• Chinese Common Name: 钟花报春 zhōnghuā bàochūn
• Family: Primulaceae
• Genus: Primula
• Distribution: Wet meadows, at margins of bogs and wet forests, streamsides; 3200–4400 m. W Sichuan, Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, NE India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim].
• Photo: 07/29/2012, Mt. Jiajin, Sichuan

Herbs perennial. Leaves forming a rosette; petiole not clearly differentiated or nearly as long as leaf blade; leaf blade elliptic to oblong or oblanceolate, 7--30(--40) X 2--7 cm, thin papery or submembranous, base attenuate, rarely obtuse or subrounded, margin crenate-serrate to dentate, apex rounded to occasionally acute; reticulate veins prominent abaxially. Scapes 15--90 cm, yellow farinose toward apex; umbels usually 1, occasionally 2, 2- to many flowered; bracts lanceolate, 0.5--2 cm, base often gibbous, apex acuminate. Pedicel 1--6(--10) cm, yellow farinose. Flowers heterostylous. Calyx campanulate to tubular-campanulate, 7--10(--12) mm, copiously farinose; parted to ± middle, prominently 5-veined; lobes lanceolate to triangular-lanceolate, apex acute and slightly recurved. Corolla yellow, rarely cream-white, becoming dark green when dry, 1.5--2.5(--3) cm; tube slightly longer than calyx; limb (1--)1.5--3 cm wide; lobes obovate to obovate-oblong, margin entire to emarginate. Pin flowers: stamens 2--3 mm above base of corolla tube; style ca. as long as tube. Thrum flowers with positions reciprocal. Capsule oblong, nearly as long as calyx. Fl. Jun, fr. Sep-Oct. 2n = 18, 22. (Flora of China)

07/29/2012, Mt. Jiajin, Sichuan