Primula farreriana Balf.f., Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 9: 167. 1916.
Section Crystallophlomis
Link to Flora of China description
Type specimen: Farrer 560 resides at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (specimens E00024226, E00024227) and British Museum (specimen BM000996782) and KEW (specimen K000750209) and Smithsonian (specimen 00116475).
See Blog Post: The Truth about the Blue Nivalids (P. farreriana).
Epithet: Named for Reginald Farrer.
Distribution: Qinghai.
Only known from the mountains north of Xining, Qinghai. This species is a typical member of the Crystallophlomis Section. It has a long stalk formed of sheathing basal bud scales and leaf petioles. Leaves are elliptic to lanceolate, apex obtuse or subacute, margin obtusely denticulate with a winged petiole, and covered below with thick white farina. The apex of the scape and petioles are also covered in farina. Flowers are pale lavender-blue with a prominent annulus and a dark purple eye/tube. The calyx is tubular-campanulate, a dark purple and farinose inside. Apparently never in cultivation.
