Round-headed Himalayan primrose

Description

Primula capitata, commonly known as the round-headed Himalayan primrose or Asiatic primrose is a species of flowering plant in the family Primulaceae. It is a short-lived perennial, forming semi-evergreen rosettes of 15cm (6 inch) pale green, mealy leaves that are finely toothed, oblong-lance-shaped or inversely lance-shaped, with white-mealy undersides. Its flowers are up to 1cm (0.5 inch) long, dark purple and tubular, with shallowly lobed petals; they are borne in racemes that form flattened spheres, held on white-mealy stems about 40cm (16 inches) high. Primula capitata is found in moist habitats in alpine areas of Bhutan, Tibet, and Sikkim state in India. Its putative subspecies Primula capitata subsp. sphaerocephala has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Primula is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. They include the primrose (P. vulgaris), a familiar wildflower of banks and verges. Other common species are P. auricula (auricula), P. veris (cowslip), and P. elatior (oxlip). These species and many others are valued for their ornamental flowers. They have been extensively cultivated and hybridised (in the case of the primrose, for many hundreds of years). Primula are native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, south into tropical mountains in Ethiopia, Indonesia, and New Guinea, and in temperate southern South America. Almost half of the known species are from the Himalayas. Primula has over 500 species in traditional treatments, and more if certain related genera are included within its circumscription. Primula is a complex and varied genus, with a range of habitats from alpine slopes to boggy meadows. Plants bloom mostly during the spring, with flowers often appearing in spherical umbels on stout stems arising from basal rosettes of leaves; their flowers can be purple, yellow, red, pink, blue, or white. Some species show a white mealy bloom (farina) on various parts of the plant. Many species are adapted to alpine climates. Primula was known at least as early as the mediaeval herbalists, although first formally described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753, and later in 1754 in his Flora Anglica. Linnaeus described seven species of Primula.