Primula beesiana Forrest, Gard. Chron., Ser. 3. 50:242. 1911.
Section Proliferae
Link to Flora of China description
Type specimen: Forrest 2194 resides at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (specimen E00265026) and KEW (specimens K000732876, K000732877, K000732878) and Paris (specimen P04571441).
Reference Paper: Yongpeng Ma, et al., Unidirectional hybridization and reproductive barriers between two heterostylous primrose species in north-west Yunnan, China.
Reference Paper: Zhi-Kun Wu, Chang-Qin Zhang, Comparative study of pollination biology of two closely related alpine Primula species, namely Primula beesiana and P. bulleyana (Primulaceae)
P. burmanica (syn): Balf.f. & Kingdon-Ward, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 13: 5. 1920. Type specimen: Ward 1634 resides at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (specimens E00024067, E00024068). Efarinose.
P. leucantha (syn): Balf.f. & Forrest, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 13: 12. 1920. Type specimen: Forrest 16255 resides at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (specimen E00024064) and KEW (specimen K000732875). White flowered.
P. beesiana var. leucantha (Balf.f. & Forrest) (syn): Fletcher, Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinb. 33:122-181. 1941.
P. bulleyana Forrest subsp. beesiana (Forrest) (syn): A.J.Richards, Primula 194 (1993).
P. bulleyana Forrest var. leucantha (Balf.f. & Forrest) (syn): A.J.Richards, Primula 194 (1993). nomen.?
P. x bulleesiana: Janson, Gartenflora 77:279. 1928. P. bulleyana x P. beesiana.
Epithet: Named for the nursery Bees Ltd.
Distribution: SW Sichuan, Yunnan, China, Burma.
P. beesiana is one of the Candelabra species with multiple whorls of flowers and can hybridize with P. bulleyana (see reference paper) producing orangey-pink flowers. It has been considered a subspecies of P. bulleyana but recent studies confirm that it is distinct. It differs from P. pulverulenta by the shape of the leaves and the yellow eye. P. burmanica was found straight west of Dali, Yunnan on the border with Burma (Myanmar) and is an efarinose form (except for inside the calyx) and is considered distinct by Richards (see last 2 images). Leaves oblong-oblanceolate, rounded at the apex, attenuate at the base, irregularly dentate at the margin, sparsely glandular. Scapes to 35cm, elonging in fruit, efarinose (P. burmanica) or white farinose, umbels 2-4 with 8-16 rose (rarely white) flowers with a yellow eye. See related P. stenodonta and P. pulverulenta.
