Primula capitata Hook.
Section Capitatae
Link to Flora of China description
Flora of Bhutan
Type specimen: Cult. July 21. 1886 resides at K (specimen K000750320) as figured in Botanical Magazine 76:t. 4550.
Primula capitata subsp. capitata. Leaves white farinose underneath, umbels discoid.
P. capitata subsp. mooreana (Balf.f. & W.W.Sm.) W.W.Sm. & Forrest. Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 16:18. 1928.
P. mooreana Balf.f. & W.W.Sm. (syn): Type specimen: Sikkim. 10,000 - 16,000 ft. J.D. Hooker resides at KEW (specimen not online).
P. capitata subsp. craibiana (Balf.f. & W.W.Sm.) W.W.Sm. & Forrest. Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 16:18. 1928. Leaves bright yellow underneath, umbels spherical.
P. craibiana Balf.f. & W.W.Sm. (syn): Type specimen: Sikkim. Alt. 10,000 - 16,000 ft. J.D. Hooker resides at KEW (specimen not online). Name corrected from "craibeana" to craibiana" according to the ICN.
P. capitata subsp. lacteocapitata (Balf.f. & W.W.Sm.) W.W.Sm. & Forrest Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 16:18. 1928. Leaves cream farinose below, umbels spherical. Leaves acute at apex, petioles often with red base.
P. lacteocapitata Balf.f. & W.W.Sm. (syn): Type specimen: R.E. Cooper 428 resides at E (specimen E00024411).
P. capitata subsp. sphaerocephala (Balf.f.) W.W.Sm. & Forrest Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 16:18. 1928. Leaves are efarinose, umbels spherical. Yunnan and SE Tibet.
P. pseudocapitata Kingdon-Ward ex Balf.f. (syn): Type specimen: K. Ward 92A resides at E (specimen E00024082).
P. sphaerocephala Balf.f. (syn): Type specimen: Forrest 46 resides at E (specimen E00024083).
Epithet: Named for the flowers arranged in a dense headlike cluster.
Distribution: Nepal, China: Yunnan, Tibet (Xizang), Bhutan, India: Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh.
A variable species, grouped into subspecies, but with intermediate forms. The species has umbels which appear discoid from the undeveloped flowers at the apex. P. crispata has been considered a subspecies but is accepted as distinct by Basak, Maiti & Hajra (2014) based mostly on seed morphology. The Flora of China lumps P. crispata into P. capitata subsp. capitata because the type specimen (Cooper 951) shows a bit of farina on the leaves, so it is not efarinose as described. However, this trace of farina is not the same as the thick farina found in subspecies capitata and I have followed Basak, Maiti & Hajra. The Flora of China lumps similar P. craibiana into P. capitata subsp. lacteocapitata. It can be difficult to tell the subspecies of P. capitata apart. May be confused with P. bellidifolia which has pubescent leaves. See also related P. glomerata and P. nanocapitata.
