Authors:

Botanical Description

H.H. Fletcher

Forms large pointed chestnut resting buds in winter. These open in early spring to reveal a cluster of sessile sky-blue flowers nestling within a ruff of oblanceolate farinose leaves which are finely dentate. Flowers are flat-faced with a short broad tube, about 30 mm in diameter, and the petals are deeply toothed. A greenish eye is surrounded by a broad white 'eye'. Sepals are erect and narrowly acute. In summer, leaves develop a long narrow petiole and a triangular blade. Eastern Bhutan to western Arunachal Pradesh and south-eastern Tibet. Differs from the more westerly P. whitei which is much more difficult to cultivate and has lanceolate summer leaves, less dentate petals and rounded, dentate sepal-lobes. Keep cool and humid in summer, out of direct sun, and cloched or under cover in winter. Very hardy.

a, P. bhutanica; b, P. gracilipes; c, P. irregularis; d, P. sonchifolia;