Primula nivalis Pall.

Herbs perennial, with long stocks formed by overlapping petioles and basal bud scales. Leaves forming a rosette; petiole broadly winged, usually slightly shorter than leaf blade; leaf blade elliptic to oblong-ovate or oblong-lanceolate, 6--16 X 1--4 cm, glabrous, efarinose or farinose, base attenuate, margin ± regularly blunt denticulate, apex obtuse to acute. Scapes 10--25 cm, elongating to 35 cm in fruit; umbels 8--20-flowered; bracts narrowly lanceolate, 5--14 mm. Pedicel 0.7--1.5 cm, elongating to 1.6--3.5 cm in fruit. Flowers heterostylous. Calyx tubular, 6--11 mm, parted to ± middle; lobes lanceolate. Corolla violet to purple; tube 0.8--1.5 cm; limb 1.5--2.5 cm wide; lobes oblong, margin entire. Pin flowers: stamens 3--4 mm above base of corolla tube; style slightly longer than calyx. Thrum flowers: stamens slightly above apex of calyx; style ca. 2 mm. Capsule oblong, 1--2 X as long as calyx. 2n = 22.

NE and NW Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan]

Wet meadows, shaded areas in valley marshes; 2100--3000 m.