Specific Families and Genera > Primula

Primula allionii

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Fumi:
Okay, this may sound silly but it has been bugging me for some time so here it goes....

What exactly is P. allionii hybrids that I often encounter at various alpine/rock garden nursery's on-line catalog?  Are they crosses of different clones of P. allionii or are they hybrids of P. allionii with some other species and/or hybrids?

Also, why do I not see a simple P. allionii species?  It appears that they are always some 'hybrids' and/or selected clones (and I take it that when I see P. allionii 'XXX', that is a selected named clone of P. allionii species).

Some of you may have seen this same question as I'd posted it to primula mailing list which has been very quiet since I'd recently joined.

Thanks,
Fumi

Maggi Young:
Well, Fumi, this is a question that vexes a lot of people, that's for sure!
Loosely speaking ( and that is a forte of mine!) I would say that many allioniis are pretty much forms of the species, with little or no outside blood: these are plants with flowers very close down on the foliage , with leaves that are quite small, tightly packed and very sticky.
Then there are the ones which are still very similar to the species, but have flowers held a little higher, bigger leaves, some evidence of other blood... these are the greyest area, they are really in no man's land as far as ID goes! Lastly there are the ones with flowers that are on little pedicels, not always visible because of their big flowers, they may have a tendency to multipe flower heads on close examination and their leaves may be less sticky, more open and show more evidence of extra genes, such as marginata- like leaves.
I DID say this was speaking loosely... fact is, it is tricky to delineate a lot of these primula types.
Now, that should dig a few primulas fans out of the woodwork to tell us their version of this tale!!

hadacekf:
Primula allionii occurs in Maritimes Alps and is a very beautiful species. The variable character of its flower has give to a crowd of cultivars. A large number of clones are in cultivation, some of which were originally collected in the wild.
I know only one naturally occurring hybrid.  P. x minera (allionii x marginata)
In cultivation P. allionii has been successfully crossed with many other species.
P. allionii will also cross with a range of hybrids such as. allionii hybrids, P. marginata hybrids……Most P. allionii hybrids are fertile and of the seeds one gets again new plants. By those variability and the crossings there are so many selected named clones of P. allionii species).

David Shaw:
I think that most Primula allionii on offer are hybrid varieties, Franz gives a good description of the different crosses possible. Allionii seems to be a very naughty little lady and I suspect that garden collected seed of the species is unlikely to be true. I would only trust plants to be true species if grown from wild collected seed from the Maritime Alps.
If anyone know where I can get such a plant from or wild seed I would be interested to know.

David Nicholson:
Fumi,
I can add very little to whar Maggi, Franz and David have said other than to agree with all of it. Primula allionii is "some fast lady" and will breed with any other Primula (that is part of the Auriculastrum section of the Genus Primula) within bees flight distance. Those desribed as Allionii Hybrids carry a varying percentage of allionii genes and sometimes the breeders are not entirely certain what other genes are included in the mix. Equally there are hundreds of "planned" hybrids and a vast number of forms of the species. As Franz said the wild Primula allionii comes from the Maritime Alps near to the Colle de Tenda pass on the border between France and Italy and I have seen wild seed offered but can't for the life of me remember where I saw it.

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