Primula rosea Royle, Illustr. Bot. Himal. Mount. 1: 311. 1836. ( t. 76, fig. 1 )
Section Oreophlomis
Link to Flora of Pakistan description
Type specimen: Royle's collector s.n. [1831] (Kerdarkanta, Kashmir) resides at World Museum Liverpool.
P. elegans (syn): Duby, Mem. Soc. Phys. et d’Hist. Nat. Geneve. 10: t. 1, f. 1843. and in DC., Prodr. 8:42.1844. Type specimen: Jacquemont 508 resides at Paris (specimen P04544702).
P. rosea var. elegans: (Duby) Hooker f. Fl. Brit. India 3:489. 1882. Further discussion: Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edin. 9:21. 1915. (under P. harrissii) and Bot. Mag. t. 6437. 1879.
Distribution: NW and N Himalaya from E Afghanistan through N Pakistan and Kashmir to Garwhal.
P. rosea is an efarinose species common in wet meadows. It is variable and can approach P. warshenewskiana (a smaller plant with annulate flowers and escapose at flowering). Usually the flowers bloom before the leaves appear (precocious), but in P. rosea var. elegans the flowers bloom with the leaves (coaetaneous). No attempt has been made to identify the images which may represent this variation. In cultivation, it is usually a deep pink, but in the wild it can be much paler. Has been hybridized with P. clarkei in cultivation.
