Primula chionota W. W. Smith, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 15: 81. 1926.
Section Petiolaris, Subsection Sonchifolia
Link to Flora of China description (mispelled as P. chionata).
Type specimen: KIngdon-Ward 5868 resides at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (specimen E00024667) and KEW (specimen K000750245) and British Museum (specimen BM000996798).
P. chionota var. violacea: W. W. Smith, Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh. 61: 294. 1944. Type specimen: Ludlow, Sherriff & Taylor 5284a pro parte resides at British Museum (specimen BM000996797) and Paris (specimen P04571862). A violet colored variant.
Epithet: Named for its association with snow.
Distribution: China, SE Tibet (Doshong La, Deyang La).
A variable species, yellow and violet forms grow together. Distinguished by its leaves which appear together with the flowers and are oblong, rounded at the apex and irregularily, pinnatifidly incised at the margin. Basal bud scales are persistent, reddish and ovate. Scape is obsolete in P. chionota var. chionota but 2-8 pedicels may be together. Scape is 8-10cm in P. chionota var. violacea. The calyx lobes have margins which vary from entire to dentate. See related P. chionogenes and P. tsariensis.
