Primula waltonii G. Watt ex Balf.f., Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh. 9: 57. 1915.
Section Sikkimensis
Link to Flora of China description
Link to Flora of Bhutan description
Type specimen: Walton s.n., Aug 1904 (lhasa, Tibet) resides at Calcutta (holotype specimen CAL0000017298) and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (specimen E00024732) and KEW (specimen K000750445).
P. prionotes (syn): Balf.f. & G. Watt., Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh. 9: 35. 1915. Type specimen: Walton s.n., July 1904 (Karo La, Tibet) resides at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (specimens E00288494, E00288495, E00288496) and KEW (specimen K000750444). A slender state of P. waltonii.
P. waltonii subsp. prionotes (syn): (Balf.f. & G. Watt) W. W. Smith & Forrest, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh. 16: 39. 1928.
P. sikkimensis microdonta (syn): Stapf, Bot. Mag., t. 9210. 1930. Type specimen: cult. from seeds of Kingdon-Ward 6221, pro parte.
P. vinosa (syn): Stapf, Bot. Mag., sub. t. 9276. 1932., in clavi. Type specimen: Ward 6094 resides at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (specimens E00024730, E00024731) and KEW (specimen K000750443) and British Museum (specimen BM000996921).
Epithet: Named for Captain H. J. Walton I.M.S.
Distribution: Bhutan, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Tibet (Xizang), China.
Plants in seed were collected initially from the hills above Lhasa and it wasn't until Ward (#6094), collected on the Nambu La in flower, was there more information about this species. The Ward specimen was referred to as P. waltonii by Smith and Ward. Later Stapf published P. sikkimensis microdonta which he subsequently elevated to the species P. vinosa and associated with Ward 6094. Although I haven't been able to view original documents, circumstantial evidence suggests the type location is behind the Drepung monastery near Lhasa and the first few images are from this location. The Flora of Bhutan indicates that this species may be mixed with yellow flowered plants suggesting that it hybridizes with P. sikkimensis or may be a subspecies of P. sikkimensis. The last image shows a hybrid swarm. P. waltonii may have flowers of pink to dull lilac to deep wine purple but always exhibit a band of white or yellowish farina within, leaving the throat bare. Leaves are efarinous, elliptic-oblong to oblanceolate, rounded at the apex, cuneate-attenuate at the base and with an erose-dentate to sharply serrate margin. The original spelling of the species name was published as 'Primula waltoni' but has been corrected to the code as 'Primula waltonii'.
