P. drummondiana Craib
Section Denticulata
Link to Nepal checklist
Type specimen: Strachey & Winterbottom Primula No. 12 (Namil, Kumaon) resides at KEW (specimen K000750236) and Paris (specimen P04544665 part) and Harvard (specimen 00073581) and Botanic Garden Meise (specimen BR0000005297368).
P. petiolaris Wall. var. stracheyi (syn): Hooker , f. Fl. Brit. India 3:493. 1882. Type specimen: Strachey & Winterbottom Primula No. 12 (Namil, Kumaon) resides at KEW (specimen K000750236) and Paris (specimen P04544665 part) and Harvard (specimen 00073581) and Botanic Garden Meise (specimen BR0000005297368).
P. pseduopetiolaris (syn): Pax and K. Hoffm., Type specimen: Limpricht 1605 and Lischke s.n. s.d. (Matturie) resides at WRSL.
Epithet: Named for James Ramsay Drummond.
Distribution:N Uttar Pradesh, NW India and C and W Nepal.
This species was thought to have a petiolarid capsule and was initially included within the expanded definition of Primula petiolaris, section Petiolares. The type location is in Kumaon (Uttarakhand) at a pass above Namik (probably Sur Sungri). It is distinguished by having multicellular glandular hairs on the upper surface of the leaf, sparse towards the middle but more dense on the margin, blooming in Autumn, and scape obsolete. Plants were in cultivation in the late 1970's and early 1980's and reclassified to section Davidii. Recent images from Nepal show it has a capsule parting by valves, not a petiolarid one and so probably belongs to section Denticulata. In the field it may be mistaken for a small Primula denticulata but the lack of a flower scape is an easily observed diagnostic characteristic. Primula drummondiana is sometimes equated with P. cunninghamii (a species from Sikkim and SE Tibet which also flowers in the Autumn), but I am keeping the two species separate until we have field images of P. cunninghamii.
