Auganthus praenitens Link; Oscaria chinensis Lilja; Primula mandarina Hoffmannsegg; P. praenitens Ker Gawler; P. semperflorens Loiseleur-Deslongchamps ex Steudel; P. sertulosa Kickx f.; Primulidium sinense (Sabine ex Lindley) Spach.

Herbs perennial, with copious multicellular hairs, usually without remains of old leaves at base. Leaves forming a rosette; petiole 10--20 cm, succulent, vaginate at base; leaf blade broadly ovate to subrotund, 4--12 cm wide, base cordate, palmately lobed to 1/2 its width; lobes 7--9, oblong to ovate, margin coarsely dentate to incised-lobulate; lobules serrate. Scapes 10--30 cm; umbels 1 terminal, or 2 or 3 superimposed, 3--12-flowered; bracts lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 1--3 cm. Pedicel 2--5(--7) cm. Flowers heterostylous. Calyx 0.8--1.5 cm, enlarging to 2 cm in fruit, inflated at base, subglobose, parted to 1/3--2/5; lobes ovate-triangular, often with unequal teeth, apex acute. Corolla pink to rose or lilac; tube slightly longer than calyx, pubescent outside; limb 1.5--4 cm wide; lobes broadly obovate, emarginate. Pin flowers: stamens near middle of corolla tube; style ca. as long as tube. Thrum flowers with positions reciprocal. Capsule globose, 8--9 mm in diam., shorter than calyx. Fl. Dec-Feb. 2n = 22@, 24@, 36@, 48@.

After publication, it was noted by Kanchi Gandhi (IPNI, pers. comm.), that Primulidium sinense Spach (1840) is nom superfl. for P. praenitens Ker Gawler (1821); therefore, "Primula praenitens Ker Gawler (1821)" appears to be the correct name for this complex.

* Shaded areas in ravines, mixed forests; ca. 1000 m. Guizhou (Anshun Xian), Sichuan (Emei Shan)