Flora of North America species comparison

Variety viscidum is found throughout the northern range of the species from southeastern British Columbia, southern Alberta, and southwestern Saskatchewan to eastern Washington (Lincoln and Spokane counties), northern Idaho (as far south as Fremont County), and western Montana to the edge of the Great Plains. It appears to be disjunct near Tompkins, Saskatchewan (Looman 10304, OSC, UBC, UC, UTC); it approaches Dodecatheon pulchellum var. cusickii (not otherwise known from here); plants with both smooth and rugose connectives have been seen.

The distribution of the glands varies within plants. Most plants have at least the proximal portion of the scape glandular-puberulent; leaves and pedicels can be glandular or glabrous. Rarely is the entire scape glandular; these plants are confined mainly to the Waterton Lakes National Park area and are sometimes found elsewhere in Alberta. The calyx is rarely glandular. Even within the established range of var. viscidum, some populations may consist of both glandular and nonglandular individuals. Sometimes, only the pedicels have glands; in Wyoming such plants are assigned arbitrarily to var. conjugens. Plants with distinctly rugose connectives are termed here var. viscidum. H. J. Thompson (1953) assigned some Montana specimens with smooth or longitudinally wrinkled connectives to var. viscidum; here they are assigned to Dodecatheon pulchellum var. cusickii.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Genera 20, species ca. 600 (5 genera, 52 species in the flora).

The largest genera in Primulaceae are Primula (ca. 500 species) and Androsace (ca. 100 species). No genera are endemic to the flora area; Dodecatheon and Douglasia have relatively few representatives elsewhere (northeastern Asia).

The family contains ornamental taxa, especially in Dodecatheon and Primula. Primula can cause dermatitis. Some taxa are pollinated by insects; selfing also occurs. Seeds are dispersed by gravity, water, wind, or ants (Primula; B. Ståhl and A. A. Anderberg 2004).

As typically described (e.g., A. Cronquist 1981; V. H. Heywood 1978), Primulaceae were clearly polyphyletic, closely related to Myrsinaceae and Theophrastaceae. M. Källersjö et al. (2000) and B. Ståhl and A. A. Anderberg (2004) removed the nonrosette terrestrial members from Primulaceae in the broad sense and placed them in the Myrsinaceae, which are further distinguished by leaves and calyx often dotted with yellow or dark streaks, flowers with relatively shorter corolla tubes, seeds immersed in placentae, and wood devoid of rays or with multiseriate rays only. Maesa, consisting entirely of trees found in the Eastern Hemisphere tropics, also has semi-inferior ovaries, pedicels with two bracts, and wood with both uniseriate and multiseriate rays; it, too, was removed from Primulaceae/Myrsinaceae and placed in its own family (Källersjö et al.). The families Primulaceae in the narrow sense, Myrsinaceae, Theophrastaceae (including Samolaceae), and Maesaceae then form a monophyletic clade within Ericales (P. F. Stevens, http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/), sharing some features, most notably flowers with sympetalous corollas, stamens in a single series and opposite the petals, free-central placentation, bitegmic, tenuinucellate ovules, and plants generally with tannins and saponins.

Additional evidence (L. Martins et al. 2003) indicates that Androsace and Primula may not be monophyletic; more work is needed to resolve these issues. The work of M. Källersjö et al. (2000) showed that Douglasia should remain separate from Androsace, and Dodecatheon should remain separate from Primula, although Dodecatheon clearly is derived from Primula subg. Auriculastrum. Alternative views suggesting more inclusive concepts of Primula and Androsace have been offered by I. Trift et al. (2002), A. R. Mast et al. (2004), and G. M. Schneeweiss et al. (2004). The phylogenetic position of Cyclamen, a scapose taxon currently included in Myrsinaceae, has not been resolved. Our understanding of Primulaceae is still in flux, and future taxonomic realignments at the familial and generic levels are to be expected.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)