nivalid primulas

[Armin]

Hi,

the pale yellow P. amoena looks very similar to P. elatior.
Does someone knows the destinct differences (apart from color)?
brgds

[Olga Bondareva]

Boyed,
Glad to see you to.  I am envious of place you are living.

The truth is that our botanists consider P. amoena as a species. But really it is similar to P. elatior (subsp. meyeri). The difference is only in color. P. amoena has purple flowers, pink or pure white sometimes. Pale yellow flowered primula is probably P. macrocalyx or P. ruprechtii.

All this primroses belong to section Primula. I often meet hybrids with medium flowers.

[Armin]

Hello Olga,

thanks for your explanation. You brought some light into my darkness.

Another question still raise - since when has P.elatior ssp. meyeri re-named into P.amoena?
Just recently?
brgds

[David Nicholson]

Hello Olga,

thanks for your explanation. You brought some light into my darkness.

Another question still raise - since when has P.elatior ssp. meyeri re-named into P.amoena?
Just recently?
brgds

It's the Botanists again Armin! As far as I can understand it from 'Primula' by John Richards, Valentine and Lamond in 1978 chose the epithet 'meyeri' rather than the more familiar 'amoena' as 'meyeri' had previously been used at subspecific rank. I don't profess to understand what I have just typed so maybe one of the Primula experts on the Forum may well be able to put that into words we both may understand.

[Armin]

Thanks David.
I hope the primula experts will still confess us their secrets
brgds

[Olga Bondareva]

Oh those botanists…

As I know P. amoena is a Russian version. Our botanists like to separate species. For example P. woronowii is a lilac variation of P. vulgaris.

[Hkind]

Hello Zhirair, glad to see that you found this forum! I like the many shades of your Primula amoena. Whenever I have sown the species, they turned out yellow - a less attractive colour when there are a lot of Primula veris and P eliator in your garden.

 :DHannelotte

[Susan Band]

Can anyone confirm the identity of this Primula? I got it as seed named as Primula sp. collected in China. I think it is Primula orbicularis but as I haven't grown it before would like confirmation. It is similar in growth as Primula chinontha but the farina on the leaves is less yellow and of course it has lovely lemon flowers.
Susan

[Carlo]

Oh Susan, such problems...

Isn't it wonderful when something is so beautiful it doesn't really matter what it's name is?

Just the same, I'll stay tuned for someone who knows more about primulas than I do........

[Maggi Young]

Lovely Primula orbicularis, Susan..... it looks to have a very full flowerhead.... then I see that the stem looks very fat ; might the stem be fasciated, making a super-duper big flower?  The soft yellow is so pretty. I think this is a primula that prefers a damper site than some of the other nivalids....which is probably why it died here    

[Susan Band]

Maggi,
I will check but I think they are all like that. Maybe the scale is a bit off putting , The stem hasn't elongated yet and the rosettes are smaller than chinontha. I am planning to dig one up for Perth show, if there is one fully grown by next week. They are out in the field.

[Lesley Cox]

A beautiful primula Susan Good luck with it. Orbicularis is said to be one of the more difficult species within the section.

On reading back through this thread, I've only just now realized that we had a nice little performance back there. Shades of 'Evita!' Thanks to Zephirine and Maggi.