Primula forbesii Franchet var. brevipes Bonati; P. forbesii subsp. duclouxii (Petitmengin) W. W. Smith & Forrest; P. refracta Handel-Mazzetti.

Herbs perennial, sparingly pilose. Rhizomes to 3 cm, with numerous reddish brown fibrous roots. Leaves forming a rosette; petiole 1--5 cm, nearly as long as leaf blade; leaf blade oblong to ovate, 1.5--4.5 X 1--3.5 cm, abaxially initially cream-yellow farinose, becoming efarinose or nearly so, base rounded to shallowly cordate, irregularly shallowly lobed; lobes in 4--6 pairs, margin sharply dentate, apex obtuse. Scapes 1--6 cm; umbels 1 or 2(or rarely 3), superimposed, 3--10-flowered; bracts subulate, 3--9 mm, sometimes yellow farinose at base and abaxially. Pedicel reflexed after anthesis, 1--3 cm, white farinose. Flowers heterostylous. Calyx campanulate, 4--6 mm, ± farinose, finely glandular, parted slightly below middle; lobes lanceolate to linear-lanceolate. Corolla rose; tube 6--8 mm; limb 1.2--1.7 cm wide; lobes obcordate, deeply emarginate. Pin flowers: stamens inserted ca. 2 mm above base of corolla tube; style ca. 5 mm. Thrum flowers with positions reciprocal. Capsule globose, 3--3.5 mm in diam., included in calyx. Fl. Mar-Apr, fr. Apr-May.

* In shaded moist limestone rock crevices; 2200--2300 m. Yunnan (Fumin Xian, Kunming Shi).