The common primrose, or Primula vulgaris, in its unassuming pale-yellow beauty, is one of the first signs of spring in its native Europe. Its name actually comes from the Latin primus because it appears so early, often just as the snows are melting and green new life is starting to peep through after the long winter. This modest flower has a unique place in the popular imagination, and has connections to Queen Victoria, Shakespeare, and Charles Darwin. Join us as we discover its:
- Description & Habitat
- Medical and gastronomic uses
- Place in popular culture
- Contribution to Natural History
- Future
Description and Habitat
The primrose is a semi-evergreen perennial that grows between 4-12” tall. It has a very short stem, and the flowers, 2-4cm in diameter, are almost always a pale buttery yellow. Occasionally we can see white or even pale pink flowers occurring in nature. The primrose has also been called the butter rose, the darling of April, spinkle, early rose, caster rose, golden rose, lent rose, and golden stars.
While the Primula vulgaris is the most common of the primula species, and the one we usually mean when we say “primrose,” there are actually over 400 different primula species worldwide. Primroses are also closely related to cowslips and oxlips. They were all even considered to be one species under the original modern classification system but were eventually divided into three distinct species. The easiest way to tell the difference is the color – only the primula vulgaris is that distinctive pale-yellow color.
Primula vulgaris is native to western and southern Europe, but its popularity and ease of cultivation has meant it is now popular in gardens all over the world, especially in North America. In nature primroses are found in woods, under hedgerows, one waysides and railway banks, beside streams and rivers, and in meadows and forest glades. When cultivated in a garden they thrive in shady, moist, nutrient-rich, and humus-rich soil.
Medical and Gastronomic Uses
Primroses are not solely ornamental. They can also be quite useful. Historically they were believed to have epic medicinal properties. People believed they could be used as pain killers, as an antispasmodic, and as a diuretic. The Ancient Greeks even named them the “flower of the twelve gods” because they believed they could cure countless illnesses up to and including paralysis.
Today we know that most of these claims are false, but primroses are still considered a healthy and nutritious addition to soups or salads. You can make tea out of the leaves and primrose wine out of the flowers. Crystallized, they make beautiful edible decorations for cakes and desserts.
Place in Popular Culture
The humble primrose has a surprisingly prominent place in the popular imagination. In English folklore it was believed that fairies would appear to children who ate a primrose, and Germans believed that the first girl to find a primrose in spring would be married within the year. We imagine that primrose hunting competition was fierce in Germany!
Shakespeare obviously appreciated primroses’ quiet beauty. He coined the idea of the “primrose path” and used it several times throughout his works. In Hamlet and Macbeth, he refers to a “primrose path” or “primrose way” to describe a path in life that is easy, effortless and strewn with flowers. In A Midsummer Nights’ Dream we find the lines:
And in the wood where often you and I
Upon faint primrose beds were wont to lie
The primrose was also famously British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli’s favorite flower. He loved them so much that Queen Victoria would regularly send him bunches of primroses, and when he died, she sent primroses to his funeral. To this day, primroses are still laid at his statue at Westminster Abbey on the anniversary of his death.
Contribution to Natural History
Charles Darwin was fascinated by primroses, and extremely proud of his scientific discoveries about primroses. In his autobiography he even commented that “no discovery of mine ever gave me so much pleasure.”
Darwin found primroses so interesting because of their heterostyly. If you examine a bunch of primroses, you can discover that roughly half of them look a little different from the other half. This is because about 50% have long styles, and the other 50% have short styles. Scientists and primrose enthusiasts refer to these as pin-eyed and thrum-eyed.
Many people before Darwin had noted this difference. The first known written description of heterostyly appeared as early as 1583, and the terms “pin-eyed” and “thrum-eyed” were in use as early as 1798. Darwin, however, was the first person to come up with the correct scientific explanation of why this phenomenon occurred, and the first person to conduct scientific tests to verify his thesis.
He realized that pollination only occurred between the two different types of flowers. So, pin-eyed flowers would never be pollinated with other pin-eyed flowers, and thrum-eyed flowers would never be pollinated with other pin-eyed flowers. Darwin realized that this was to encourage intercrossing or cross-pollination which would help promote healthy natural selection and evolution. In other words, this is to avoid inbreeding and all the genetic mutations and inability to survive disease that inbreeding causes.
Darwin first published his findings about primroses and heterostyly in 1861, and we still consider his findings accurate and insightful today.
The Future of The Primrose
The primrose’s popularity has unfortunately worked against its survival in nature. They are so commonly picked, even over-picked, that they are becoming harder and harder to find in the wild. In the UK and in various other countries it is such a serious problem that it is now actually illegal to pick wild primroses.
The other challenge facing primroses is the consequences of climate change. For a flower that thrives in cool, damp habitats, as temperatures increase, primroses will gradually die out.
So, the next time you see a primrose on a woodland ramble, stop and admire it. Dream about all the people since the Ancient Greeks who have admired it with you. Maybe take a few pictures. And then leave it to grow in peace so people a thousand years after you can enjoy it too.
