Primula vulgaris
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| Primula vulgaris L. |
Primula vulgaris is a species of Primula native to western and southern Europe, including the British Isles. The common name is Primrose, Common Primrose or English Primrose. It is one of the earliest spring flowers, and in appropriate conditions, it can cover the ground in open woods. In more populated areas it has suffered from over-collection and theft so that few natural displays of primroses in abundance can be found. Picking of primroses or the removal of primrose plants from the wild without the permission of the owner of the land on which they are growing is now illegal in the UK (Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, Section 13, part 1b)
Primroses are perennial, low growing herbs with actinomorphic flowers and a superior ovary which later forms a capsule which opens by valves to release the small black seeds. The plants are monoecious but heterostylous - plants are either pin (with the capita of the style prominent) or thrum (with the stamens prominent). Fertilisation can only take place between pin and thrum plants. Pin to pin and thrum to thrum pollination is ineffective.
Primula vulgaris is generally distinguished from other UK native primulas by its yellow flowers produced singly on long flower stalks which are covered in rather shaggy hairs.
The flowers are 25-40 mm across are flat rather than concave as in the case of Primula veris, the Cowslip. A pink-flowered Primrose occurs naturally in some woods in Wales. Elsewhere, pink varieties are escapes from garden cultivars; these and other garden hybrids are available in numerous other colours.
[edit] Trivia
The normal pale yellow colour of most primroses is a very distinctive subtle pale colour much favoured in imitation by paint manufacturers.
The primrose was Benjamin Disraeli's favourite flower, and the Primrose League was given its name in honour of this.
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Primula vulgaris has a ssp. sibthorpii which grows in the Balkans, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon and Israel. Primula vulgaris ssp. sibthorpii is purple or pink with a yellow center.
