Primula munroi Lindley, Edward's Bot. Reg. 33: t. 15. 1847.
Section Armerina
Link to Flora of China description
Link to Flora of Bhutan description
Type:painting in Edward's Botanical Register
Type of P. munroi ssp. yargongensis: Soulie 3789 resides at Paris: Petitmengin, Bull. Herb. Boissier, Ser. 2, 8: 367. 1908. Generally purple flowered with a tube slightly longer that the calyx, from the Eastern part of the distribution.
Type of P. munroi ssp. schizocalyx: King's coll. 1888-07 resides at Calcutta (specimen 272380) and at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (specimen E00155194): Basak and Maiti, Acta Phtotaxonomica Sinica 39(5): 473-475 (2001). Calyx split to the base, only from Northern Sikkim.
Taxonomy: This species has been known by the name P. involucrata Wallich, but Wallich's catalogue number Cat., 7107 (1828) did not include a description so the name is nomen nudum. Before Duby published a valid description in DC. Prodr., VIII, 42 (1844) , Sweet used the name in Sweet’s Hortus Britannicus (1839) pg 562, to describe another species (which has been known as P. boveana) from Egypt, thus making the name P. involucrata unavailable for use. The next valid name published for this species is P. munroi Lindley in Bot. Reg., XXXIII, t. 15 (1847). P. munroi ssp yargongensis was published by D.G. Long in Edin. J. Bot. 56:307 1999.
Easily identified by bracts that form an auricule which extends above and below the point of attachment. This species is efarinose. It is found growing from Pakistan through NW India, Nepal, S. Tibet, Sikkim, Bhutan, W. Yunnan and SW Sichuan in wet places. P. munroi ssp. munroi is usually white flowered with a calyx twice as long as the tube from the Western part of the distribution. The images below represent populations in Bhutan, Nepal, Himachal Pradesh, Tibet, Yunnan and Sichuan. Almost all of these populations show both white and purple color forms. The last three images are P. munroi ssp schizocalyx from Northern Sikkim.
