''Primula capillaris'' is a rare species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the

primrose family The Primulaceae ( ), commonly known as the primrose family (but not related to the evening primrose family), are a family of herbaceous and woody flowering plants including some favourite garden plants and wildflowers. Most are perennial though ...

known by the common name Ruby Mountains primrose, or Ruby Mountain primrose. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

in the United States, where it is limited to the

Ruby Mountains The Ruby Mountains (Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: 'Duka Doya', meaning “Snowcapped”) are a mountain range, primarily located within Elko County, Nevada, Elko County with a small extension into White Pine County, Nevada, White Pine County, in ...

Elko County Elko County is a county in the northeastern corner of Nevada, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 53,702. Its county seat is Elko. The county was established on March 5, 1869, from Lander County. Elko County is the fourth ...

.''Primula capillaris''.
The Nature Conservancy. This small plant is a few centimeters tall, growing from a short

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

. The thick, hairless leaves are linear or somewhat lance-shaped, 1 to 6 centimeters long and no more than half a centimeter wide with rounded tips. The delicate, showy flower has a bell-shaped calyx of green

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s. The corolla is reddish or bluish purple with a yellow center.''Primula capillaris''.
Flora of North America. Blooming occurs in July and August. This plant occurs in

subalpine Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

climates at

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

s between 2710 and 3160 meters, in meadows and coniferous forest and woodland habitat. It grows on soils derived from

glacial till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

, sometimes in mats of ''

Selaginella ''Selaginella'', also known as spikemosses or lesser clubmosses, is a genus of lycophyte. It is usually treated as the only genus in the family Selaginellaceae, with over 750 known species. This family is distinguished from Lycopodiaceae (th ...

'', such as Watson's spikemoss (''Selaginella watsonii''). Other plants in the habitat include fewseed draba (''Draba oligosperma''), alpine avens (''Geum rossii''), shrubby cinquefoil (''Potentilla fruticosa''), orpine stonecrop,

mountain sorrel ''Oxyria digyna'' (mountain sorrel, wood sorrel, Alpine sorrel or Alpine mountain-sorrel) is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae).Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Karen Wiese, 2nd ed., 2013, p. 108 It is native to arctic ...

(''Oxyria digyna''), smooth prairie star (''Lithophragma glabra''), Pacific woodrush (''Luzula comosa''), bluebells (''Mertensia ciliata''), and

whitebark pine ''Pinus albicaulis'', known by the common names whitebark pine, white bark pine, white pine, pitch pine, scrub pine, and creeping pine, is a conifer tree native to the mountains of the western United States and Canada, specifically subalpine ...

(''Pinus albicaulis''). Threats to this attractive plant include

poaching Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the huntin ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7243686 capillaris Flora of Nevada Plants described in 1974