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However, the most common visitors to the flowers are small beetles of the genus Meligethes – often there are up to 12 or more pollen-covered individuals in a single flower.
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A pink form is widely seen, growing amongst the much more common yellow forms; this may be a genetic variant rather than a garden escape.
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[8] The flowers are typically pale yellow, though white or pink forms are often seen in nature.
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[19] Primula vulgaris foliage contains significant amounts of vitamin C.[20] Primrose flowers, and the flowers of related members of the Primulaceae are often removed from
their stalks and scattered on the ground by green finches apparently consuming the ovaries and nectaries. -
[12][13] Occasional red forms are more likely to be naturalised from garden varieties.
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sibthorpii or hybrids between the subspecies; these and other garden hybrids are available in a wide range of colours, including white, yellow and red, or brown and red in
all gradations as well as dark red, pink, purple, dark brown and dark blue, and with an extended flowering season. -
The leaves can also be used for tea, and the young flowers can be made into primrose wine.
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The primrose is distinguished from other species of Primula by its pale yellow (in the nominate subspecies) flowers produced singly on long flower stalks which are covered
in rather shaggy hairs. -
[2][3] The common name is primrose,[4] or occasionally common primrose or English primrose to distinguish it from other Primula species also called primroses.
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[23] Primrose Yellow exists in some paint and color systems and is named after this flower.
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Though perennial, they may be short-lived and are typically grown from seed or from young plants as biennials.
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The single stem, extremely short, is hidden in the centre of the leaf rosette.
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[14] Numerous cultivars have been selected for garden planting, often derived from subsp.
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The beetles also fly from flower to flower and, at least theoretically, are well suited as pollinators.
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To prevent excessive damage to the species, picking of primroses or the removal of primrose plants from the wild is illegal in many countries, e.g.
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The flowers are actinomorphic with a superior ovary which later forms a capsule opening by valves to release the small black seeds.
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Etymology The scientific name Primula is a diminutive of the Latin primus, “prime”, alluding to the fact that this flower is among the first to appear in spring.
Works Cited
[‘”Primula vulgaris Huds”. Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2020-10-23.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b Flora Europaea: Primula vulgaris
3. ^ “Primula vulgaris”. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research
Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 14 December 2017.
4. ^ Natural History Museum: Primula vulgaris
5. ^ François Couplan, Eva Styner, Guide to Wild Edible and Toxic Plants , Delachaux and Niestlé, coll. “The
guides of the naturalist” ( ISBN 2-603-00952-4 )
6. ^ Harper, Douglas. “primrose”. Online Etymology Dictionary.
7. ^ Harrison, Lorraine (2012). RHS Latin for Gardeners. United Kingdom: Mitchell Beazley. ISBN 978-1845337315.
8. ^ Manfred A. Fischer,
Karl Oswald, Wolfgang Adler: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol . 3rd, improved edition. Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian Provincial Museums, Linz 2008, ISBN 978-3-85474-187-9 , p. 685 .
9. ^ Jump up to:a
b Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. ISBN 0-340-40170-2
10. ^ Jump up to:a b c Huxley, A, ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. ISBN 0-333-47494-5
11. ^ Dietmar Aichele, Heinz-Werner Schwegler: The
flowering plants of Central Europe , Franckh-Kosmos-Verlag, 2nd revised edition 1994, 2000, Volume 3, ISBN 3-440-08048-X
12. ^ Mabey, Richard: Flora britannica (Chatto & Windus, 1996). ISBN 1856193772
13. ^ Clapham, A., Tutin, T., & Warburg, E.
(1962). Flora of the Brish Isles.
14. ^ “Primrose-tinted spectacles”. Irish Times.
15. ^ “Primula vulgaris”. www.rhs.org. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
16. ^ “Primula vulgaris subsp. sibthorpii”. RHS. Retrieved 17
February 2021.
17. ^ “Primula vulgaris subsp. vulgaris”. RHS. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
18. ^ “Primula vulgaris ‘Taigetos'”. RHS. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
19. ^ SRJ Woodell: Natural Hybridization in Britain between Primula vulgaris Huds.
(the primrose) and P. elatior (L.) Hill (the oxlip) . In: Watsonia . Volume 7 , No. 3 , 1969, pp. 115-127
20. ^ The Cambridge World History of Food, Volume One.
21. ^ Darwin, Charles (1874). “Flowers of the Primrose destroyed by Birds”. Nature.
9 (482): 482. Bibcode:1874Natur…9Q.482D. doi:10.1038/009482a0.
22. ^ Horowitz, Jason (2020-12-28). “Italy Turns to Flower Power to Help Spread Vaccine Message”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
23. ^ “Austria”. European
Commission. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
24. ^ “PANTONE 13-0755 TCX Primrose Yellow”. Pantone. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/elainegreycats/102501987/’]