Primula yuparensis

[Great Moravian]

In Czechoslovakia, Primula frondosa is cultivated as alleged Primula yuparensis.
Therefore I several times ordered seeds of British origin.
The result was always the following species which I guess is Primula halleri.
Characteristic are 2 cm long corolla tubes, sharp bracts and ribbed calyx.
It is a cultivable species in Central Europe.

[Great Moravian]

Later a reliable grower provided me seeds of the following species
which I think is the right thing. It is a lovely small plant.
The flower colour is as intensive as depicted.
Flower stalks are short at first. So are the mealy corolla tubes.
The pot is sized  7 x 7 cm.

[Great Moravian]

During one week the flower stalks and the honey-orange corolla tubes elongated.
The calyx is not ribbed but rounded. Bracts are obtuse.
Hot summer afternoons killed the plants. The climate of
Mount Yubari in Hokkaido is certainly different.
Compare the two plants and don't offer Primula halleri
as Primula yuparensis.

[Lesley Cox]

Sorry to add an only loosely related note but it seems silly to open a new thread for every species.
Years ago Jack Drake at Inshriach, Aviemore, in Scotland offered P. yargongensis and it was a lovely thing from the same section as frondosa etc, tallish and with large fragrant flowers in good purple shades. When I've selected that from recent seedlists I get what is perhaps a form of P. modesta, nothing like what JD had. I've had it as P. monroi yargongensis as well, much the same as the putative modesta. Does anyone remember JD's original yargongensis and still have it I wonder?

[John Richards]

Hi Lesley. Now that really IS a red herring as the real yargongensis is a form of P. involucrata (or P. munroi if you must which is not a relative of P. yuparensis or the other Aleuritia at all, but is section Armerina like P. tibetica, P.nutans, P. fasciculata etc. The eastern deep pink forms (mostly from China) are generally now classified as P. involucrata subsp. yargongensis. They are quite growable in a cool trough here and you should be able to grow them in NZ. Another matter is whether the now popular name P. munroi (not monroi, thats for Kiwis!) which appears in Fl. China is correct. There is some very complicated nomenclature here, but if you don't accept the Wallich Catalogue listed name P. involucrata (1828) as being validly published, the name is still available and P. involucrata Sweet (1839) becomes the correct name for P. boveana Deces. (1844). In this case, the first valid name for P. involucrata Wallich is indeed P. munroi Lindley (1847). But many people, including me, accept the Wallich name.

[John Richards]

Perhaps I should add that in my opinion Great Moravian is correct both times. The first long-tubed plant he? shows is P. halleri (as he says a good garden plant, if short-lived, self-fertile too) and the second one is indeed the Japanese P. yuparensis, not dissimilar but with much shorter tubes and rounder leaves.

[Lesley Cox]

Thank you John, for correcting my mistakes, and I'm pleased to have made them if they dragged you from being a lurker to a poster on this wonderful Forum. Roger and I still speak and remember with much pleasure the time we spent with you in Greece, 1993.

I'll have a better idea of what to look for now in the seedlists or perhaps some of the eastern European catalogues. Primula has always been a favourite genus for me.

[Great Moravian]

John,
Thank you for confirming my identifications.
---
Lesley,
You spoke about hot summers in Dunedin at other place. Nothing pleasant for Primula at all.
Therefore I checked the climate information for Dunedin. Hot summers are really different.
No wonder Primula is a favorite genus of you. It is really lovely plants.
I am gardening in Brno which is situated at the border of Pannonian lowland. The original flora
contained Iris pumila, Pulsatilla grandis, Dictamnus albus. There are really
few cultivable Primula species in our climate. Despite, I try repeatedly several species.

[Lesley Cox]

Josef, the climate in my garden is quite different year round from that of the city of Dunedin, even though we are technically in the city. There is a range of low hills between us and the inner city which somehow makes a great difference. We have only about 2/3rds of the city's rainfall, we get heavier frosts and a colder, drier winter. Normally we have a much drier summer but these last few months have been wet.

A "hot" summer is relative I suppose. We have had one day with 40degC this month but that was exceptional. Our summers are usually from 16-26 or 28 C, usually much warmer in late afternoon and evening. But we often don't have rain for 3 months in summer and that does make primulas into plants needing a great deal of care. I have all my plants out-of-doors. Provided they are kept cool and moist, all Primula species and cultivars do well for me. I just have to make sure I water when they need it.