Primula lutea Vill.
Section Auricula
Type specimen: Villar(s), Chartreuse (lectotype) resides at GRM (specimen MHNGr. 1837.28846) and MJG (photo).
Auricula lutea (Vill.) Opiz
- Primula lutea subsp. lutea
--- Primula alpina Salisb.
--- Primula auricula var. monacensis Widmer
--- Primula auricula f. monacensis (Widmer) Pax
--- Primula nivalis Donn ex Rchb.
- Primula lutea subsp. widmerae (Pax) Li Bing Zhang
--- P. auricula var. widmerae Pax
--- P. auricula subsp. widmerae (Pax) Li Bing Zhang
--- P. widmerae (Pax) Landolt
- Primula lutea subsp. tatriaca (Li Bing Zhang) Li Bing Zhang
--- P. auricula subsp. tatriaca Li Bing Zhang
Epithet: Named for the yellow flowers.
Distribution: northern Alps, Tatra Mountains, West Austria, France, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland.
Separated from P. auricula by being in the northern part of the range (northern Alps, Tatra Mountains, West Austria, France, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland). Confusingly, Zhang and Kadereit in 2004 included this species under P. auricula subsp. auricula which included most of the P. auricula range except the Black Forest in Germany and the Tatra Mountains, but in 2005 made a different split so that P. auricula contains populations only from the southern part of the range that have longer glandular hairs on the leaves and dark yellow flowers. The two subspecies formerly under P. auricula are now included as subspecies under P. lutea: P. lutea subsp. widmerae from the Black Forest and P. lutea subsp. tatriaca from the Tatra Mountains. However, Zhang and Kadereit's work isn't accepted in all cases. See Somlyay and Bauer Nomenclatural and taxonomic notes on two eastern taxa of the Primula auricula complex. P. lutea has obovate leaves, petioles obsolete, margin cartilaginous, flowers yellow. The type location is in the vicinity of Grenoble in France.
