*I have, after typing out what is below, just noticed that the FOI site has the plant photographed from this spot by Mohan identified as P.bracteosa - I wish someone had told me this, if they knew! Anyhow, it does not alter my thoughts. If Mohan or anyone else can return to the spot and photograph the plants at the fruiting stage, the 'mystery' will be resolved and give us clues as to what to look out for in the early stages of flowering. Or if the specimen they come across is in flower, then make sure you look closely to the base of the stalk of an individual flower (i.e. pedicel) to check if it is part of an umbel (and then peduncle) or not.*
I am in agreement with the posting by Dr Bawri but would like to elaborate and provide additional information. Richards in 'Primula' (2003) says that P.gracilipes takes and intermediate position between the tighter, dwarfer P.petiolaris (I think only recorded from Nepal and Darjeeling-side, which if correct eliminates this from consideration for an AP specimen) and the larger, laxer P.bracteosa. 'Flora of Bhutan' (covering Bhutan and Sikkim, so close to AP) give a key that separates P.deuteronana (which the AP plant is not), P.gracilipes and P.petiolaris from P.irregularis, P.bracteosa and P.scapigera on the basis of: Flowers borne on pedicels amongst leaves of basal rosette, peduncles absent in flower and fruit - *P.gracilipes* cf. Flowers borne on distinct peduncle (often very short in flower), which elongates in fruit - *P.bracteosa*. *They also have slight but diagnostic differences in the shape of the calyx according to Richards but unhelpfully he does not say what. According to 'Flora of Bhutan' the only differences I can understand are shape of calyx teeth but these are similar. Such differences cannot be seen in most photos taken of Primulas. There is a calyx visible (albeit not very close) in the photo from AP but this does not really help much. So am still uncertain.* *As to "peduncles" and "pedicels". I think it would help to try and explain the difference. In P.gracilipes there is no peduncle as each individual flower is borne on a slender pedicel (the stalk of an individual flower) from amongst the rosette of leaves. A peduncle is the stalk of the inflorescence which in the case of P.bracteosa is present (and elongates in fruit) as seen in the herbarium specimen at Kew: http://apps.kew.org/herbcat/getImage.do?imageBarcode=K000750225 <http://apps.kew.org/herbcat/getImage.do?imageBarcode=K000750225>. This species has a single umbel of 3-17 flowers (each with a pedicel)* On Monday, April 7, 2008 at 6:03:12 PM UTC+1, Mohan Kemparaju wrote: > Hi All, > I made this image in Lama, Eaglenest NP, Arunachal Pradesh > About 2400 m from sea level. > Would appreciate the id. > > Regards > Mohan > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
