Primula specuicola |
Primula alcalina |
|
---|---|---|
alcove primrose, cave primrose, cave-dwelling primrose |
bluedome primrose |
|
Habit | Plants 10–25 cm, herbaceous; rhizomes thin, short; rosettes not clumped; vegetative parts heavily white-farinose. | Plants 6.5–24 cm, herbaceous; rhizomes thin, relatively short; rosettes not clumped; vegetative parts farinose when young, often efarinose in age. |
Leaves | not aromatic, indistinctly petiolate; petiole broadly winged; blade without deep reticulate veins abaxially, spatulate, 8–15 × 2 cm, thin, margins irregularly and sharply dentate to sinuate-dentate, apex obtuse to acute, surfaces glabrous. |
not aromatic, indistinctly petiolate; petiole winged; blade without deep reticulate veins abaxially, elliptic to oblanceolate, 1–4 × 1 cm, thin, margins usually crenulate or denticulate, rarely entire, apex obtuse, surfaces glabrous, often farinose when young, efarinose in age. |
Inflorescences | (6–)10–25-flowered; involucral bracts plane, ± equal. |
3–10-flowered; involucral bracts plane, ± equal. |
Pedicels | erect, thin, 10–30 mm, length 2–5 times bracts, flexuous. |
erect at anthesis, relatively thin, to 5 mm, length to 1 times bracts, stiff. |
Flowers | heterostylous; calyx green, campanulate, 3–5 mm; corolla lavender, tube 8–10 mm, length 2 times calyx, eglandular, limb 10–16 mm diam., lobes 5–8 mm, apex emarginate. |
heterostylous; calyx green with purple stripes, campanulate, 4–6 mm; corolla white, tube 4–7 mm, length 1–1.2 times calyx, eglandular, limb 6–10 mm diam., lobes 3–5 mm, apex deeply notched. |
Capsules | ellipsoid, length 1–2 times calyx. |
ellipsoid, length 1–1.3 times calyx. |
Seeds | without flanged edges, reticulate. |
without flanged edges, reticulate. |
2n | = 18. |
= 18. |
Primula specuicola |
Primula alcalina |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Moist seepage areas on carbonate bedrock in canyons | Wet alkaline meadows |
Elevation | 800-2500 m (2600-8200 ft) | 2000 m (6600 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; UT
|
ID; MT |
Discussion | Primula specuicola has relatively large corollas, relatively long pedicels, and irregularly and sharply dentate to sinuate-dentate leaves with conspicuous farina. It is a characteristic member of hanging-garden communities along the canyon walls of the Colorado River and its tributaries. Plants with a more exserted capsule were given the name P. hunnewellii; this appears to be only a minor variant that does not warrant infraspecific recognition. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Of conservation concern. Primula alcalina is only known from Idaho west of the Lemhi Range and nearby southwestern Montana. Although historical records from Montana were known, this species was believed extirpated until relocated in 2002. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 294. | FNA vol. 8, p. 291. |
Parent taxa | Primulaceae > Primula | Primulaceae > Primula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. hunnewellii | |
Name authority | Rydberg: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 40: 461. 1913 , | Cholewa & Douglass M. Henderson: Brittonia 36: 59, fig. 2. 1984 , |
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