Plant Introd. R. Farrer, 73, fig. p. 60 (1930); Smith & Forrest in Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. London, LIV. 23, 24, fig. 17 (1929); Hay in Gard. Chron. Ser. 3, LXXXIX. 168, fig. 80, 88, 89 (1931); ibid. 171; Fisher in New Flora and Silva, III. 274, fig. 91 (1931); T. Hay, ibid. 283; McLaren in Gard. Chron. Ser. 3, XC. 96 (1931); Cooper in New Flora and Silva, V. 182 (1933) et VIII. 88, 94 (1936); Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. London, LX. 216, 251 (1935); ibid. LXI. 258 (1936). Syn. P. gratissima G. Forrest in Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinb. IV. 219, t. 30 B, 31 (1909). Primula sonchifolia is one of the outstanding species in the section Petiolares. This section comprises nearly seventy described species which in their distribution are confined to the Himalaya, the alpine regions of Western China, Tibet, and a corner of the Burmese frontier adjoining Yunnan. They all come from high elevations where they are subjected to a long and severe winter. In most cases no doubt they are sheltered by heavy falls of snow. Many as are the species, very few have been introduced into European cultivation. During the nineteenth century one or two made a transient appearance but within the last thirty years the only one to become reasonably established and well-known is P. Winteri W. Wats. (Bot. Mag. t. 9064 sub P. Edgeworthii). among the half-dozen or so recent arrivals there are some which may prove as amenable to cultivation as P. Winteri. Seed of many of the species has been secured time and again but usually failed to germinate. The customary and quite correct method of drying seeds before despatch from the remoter regions of Central Asia seems to be responsible for many of the failures. A rule which works well with other But.

P. gratissima G. Forrest in Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinb. IV. 219

(1909).