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This beautiful little Primula with its delicate thimble
shaped corolla was discovered by Alexander ('Sandy')
Wollaston
while engaged in reconnaisance for the Mount Everest
Expedition of 1921. It was found growing at approximately
4550m. in E.Nepal. Elsewhere it occurs in Central Nepal and
neighbouring areas of Tibet, its distribution being generally
associated with heavy summer rain
fall. Since then it has been introduced into cultivation a
number of times. It is a member of the Section
Soldanelloides which includes P.buryana,
P.cawdoriana and the well established P.reidii
(which is included here for comparison). |
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| I obtained the seed
from a collection made in the Solu-Khumbu Region of
East Nepal (CC 5778).The accompanying note suggested that the
species collected might be P.wigramiana with which
P.wollastonii is known to hybridise but when it finally
flowered it proved to be closer to the latter species, a
determination which was recently confirmed by Wendy and John
Mattingley of Cluny House Gardens. |
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Primula reidii |
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| A number of the plants
now grow in the open ground in an area of the garden with
decent drainage, but I suspect that their continued survival
may be due to our recent very wet summers because generally taxa
in this section of Primula hate hot weather. Seed set is not
very good but, because the plant is rhizomatous, small
plantlets can be detached periodically and grown on. My
plants are still a bit too young to attempt this procedure.
For anyone interested in this group of high-alpine Primulas
I strongly recommend Pam Eveleigh's website, (www.primulaworld.com)
where there are some beautiful images demonstrating the
range of colour forms possible within this species, together
with some stunning habitat shots. |
ref. Jim Jermyn 2001 The Himalayan Garden
pub.Timber Press
John
Richards 2002 Primula pub.Batsford
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