(Steep slopes are usually spared when artificial fertilisers are spread, and so the wildflowers are less likely to be crowded out by rank vegetation.) Taxonomic history Where the grass is not cropped too closely Primroses can carpet large areas of motorway embankments and sloping damp meadows. These lovely perennial wildflowers favour heavy clay soils and damp shady habitats as a result they are most abundant in broadleaf woodlands and beneath hedgerows indeed, you will often find these shallow-rooting plants in greatest abundance at the edge of a wood or on a tree-lined riverbank where they receivesome light but the surface soil never dries out completely. In mild winters, Primroses can appear before Christmas in southern Britain, but they are usually at their best in March and April and continue blooming well into May or early June. ( Slovenia has Cowslips, Bird's-eye Primroses and Oxlips, too.)Īlthough localised, Primroses occur also in North Africa and in parts of western Asia. Primroses are also found in some parts of mainland Europe, although in Scandinavia Cowslips are much more common. They do not cope well with prolonged dry conditions, and so in parts of south-east England in particular Primroses seem to be becoming increasingly scarce, probably not helped at all by the effects of climate change. Widespread throughout Britain and Ireland, Primroses are native to the British Isles. Most of the flies of early spring are very small and tend to go unnoticed, but they have no difficulty finding Primroses and helping with their pollination. Fertilisation is usually achieved between a thrum-eye flower and a pin-eye flower pollination from pin to pin or thrum to thrum is not generally effective. Flowers may have a long prominent style, as shown above, in which case they are known as pin flowers or pin-eye flowers or the style may be shorter and the stamens most prominent - an example is shown below - when they are referred to as thrum flowers or thrum-eye flowers. Each flower is usually borne singly on a slender stem. The short-stemmed leaves can grow to 20cm or so in length, and their wrinkled surfaces and crinkly or slightly toothed margins are quite distinctive.įlowers, each with five notched petals, are typically 2 to 4cm in diameter, pale yellow with a deeper yellow or orange-yellow centre, and slightly scented. The rosette of basal leaves is often visible right through the winter except in exposed locations. DescriptionĪ perennial, the Primrose produces neat hemispherical clumps typically 10 to 25 cm tall. One of the first wildflowersof springtime, the Primrose is a real favourite with gardeners too. Phylum: Magnoliophyta - Class: Equisetopsida - Order: Primulales - Family: Primulaceae
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