With scree in the background, and a tiny little moraine, a brave little Primula stuartii shows off its blooms! This flower was seen near Darwa Top, on the Dodital Trek and en route to Kharsali down the Hanuman Chatti-Yamunotri route, in the early monsoon.
Filmed in 1994, so truly one from the archives! In the background, one can see Rhododendron anthopogon flowering in clumps of shrubs. This aromatic fragrant shrub is the key ingredient in Hindu 'hawan samigri.'
One of the most beautiful Himalayan primulas. We encountered it in the early monsoon season along Darwa Top's higher nullahs, with streams flowing through them. Primula stuartii loves moist humid locations with lots of running water, at high altitude and during the early monsoons. This makes it a rare flower to see in bloom, as few people visit the high Himalaya during the rainy season and it is found in very few locations, to top it all!
Distribution: C and E Nepal, NE India (Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir and N Uttar Pradesh).
Epithet: Named after Robert Stuart (-1820), Assistant British Resident at the court of Nepal and friend of the collector Wallich.
Leaves oblong-lanceolate to spathulate, yellow farinose beneath, toothed, tapering to a broadly winged stalk, the whole 15-3 5cm long and 2-4cm wide. Flowers pendent on pedicels to 2.5cm long, golden-yellow, 2-3cm across, the petal lobes toothed, one to two umbels on stems 20-40cm high. Nepal and Himachal Pradesh, in alpine meadows at 3600-5000m.
Source - Alpine Garden Society
An alpine, herbaceous plant Leaves radical, numerous, long, broadly lanceolate, acute, gradually gliding at the base into a short footstalk, which is much grooved on the upper side; margin acutely serrated, pale green, and shining above: covered below with yellow farina. Scape about fifteen inches high, terminating in an umbellate inflorescence. Involucre composed of numerous lanceolate leaflets. Calyx monosepalous, tubulate, and slightly campanulate; limb divided into five acutely lanceolate segments, farinose. Corolla monopctalous; tube long, contracted near the mouth; limb salver-shaped, divided into five rounded segments - yellow, tinged with orange towards the centre. Stamens five, attached to the tube of the corolla. Style long, surmounted by a capitate stigma.
This is one of the most striking species of the genus Primula, and by no means a common one; indeed, it is a pity it should be so scarce. Peat and loam in nearly equal parts, with a good portion of sharp, gritty sand, form the most suitable compost for it.
From: "The Horticulturist, And Journal Of Rural Art And Rural Taste", by P. Barry, A. J. Downing, J. Jay Smith, Peter B. Mead, F. W. Woodward, Henry T. Williams.
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