BIRD'S-EYE PRIMROSE

Primula farinosa

Primrose Family [Primulaceae]  

month8May month8jun month8june

status
statusZnative
flower
flower8bicolour
flower
flower8pink
inner
inner8yellow
morph
morph8actino
petals
petalsZ5
stem
stem8round
rarity
rarityZscarce
sex
sexZbisexual
sex
sexZheterostylous

31st May 2016, Hawes Water, Gait Barrows, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
Here's the long and the short of it... The stems are bereft of any leaves; the only leaves are those in the basal rosette at ground-level.


1976 - 1980, Teesdale Photo: © Jeremy Roberts
Grows up to 6 inches high in limestone areas mainly in and around Cumbria.


1976 - 1980, Teesdale Photo: © Jeremy Roberts
 Pin flowers. A cluster of lilac-pink flowers atop glaucous-green stems with short downy hair.


1976 - 1980, Teesdale Photo: © Jeremy Roberts
 Pin flowers. Five heart-shaped petals almost as flat as a plate. They look almost perfect, blemish-free.


31st May 2016, Hawes Water, Gait Barrows, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
A pair of densely populated inflorescences complete with glaucous-green shoe-horn shaped leaves. They eventually loose their covering of loose covering of a greyish powder-like substance and become bright-green.


31st May 2016, Hawes Water, Gait Barrows, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
A bird's-eye view of Bird's-eye Primrose.


22nd June 2009, Haweswater, Silverdale, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
Several flower stalks emerge from the same point. The flower has a long tubular section coloured a deep custard-yellow. The moniker Bird's-eye comes from not the deep-yellow colour of the centre, but the likeness it has to a bird's eye.


22nd June 2009, Haweswater, Silverdale, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
Leaf-like bracts surround the point where flower stems emerge.


31st May 2016, Hawes Water, Gait Barrows, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
At first the stems, petioles and sepals are covered in a dusting of a greyish powder which wears off.


31st May 2016, Hawes Water, Gait Barrows, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
The greyish 'powder' is probably a covering of matted hairs which are easily abraded off, as can be seen by the bare patches here.


22nd June 2009, Haweswater, Silverdale, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
 Thrum flowers. A deep yellow ring near the centre helps identification


22nd June 2009, Haweswater, Silverdale, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
 Thrum flowers. The very centre houses a deep well containing five stamens with anthers bearing cream-coloured pollen.


31st May 2016, Hawes Water, Gait Barrows, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
 Thrum-type flowers with the 5 anthers somewhat crowded together in the centre to look like pin-configuration Heterostyly


31st May 2016, Hawes Water, Gait Barrows, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
Your Author is unsure whether this is a Pin type flower, he thinks it more likely to be Thrum.


31st May 2016, Hawes Water, Gait Barrows, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
The petals wither losing their pink shade and expressing a deeper blue coloration, possibly due to anthocyanins decomposing.


31st May 2016, Hawes Water, Gait Barrows, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
A basal rosette, this time one which still has matted greyish hair.


9th July 2008, Hawes Water, Gait Barrows, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
This basal rosette has lost its greyish hairs and is now bright-green. Leaves shaped like shoe-horns. They have shallow pointed teeth.


Some similarities to : Scottish Primrose but Scottish Primrose is much shorter and has much smaller flowers than does Bird's-eye Primrose.

Bird's-eye Primrose has the most perfect-looking lilac-pink flowers with a yellow central 'eye', and look almost as if they were made of plastic. They have five petals with pronounced nicks in the middle of the ends, and are mostly planar, presenting a flat aspect. There are several flowers on the end of a slightly woolly downy upright stalk about 8 inches long. The stalk single arises from a basal rosette of long spoon-shaped sheeny leaves, that have irregular but small teeth along the edge.

It grows in alkaline limestone areas in dampish places where the grass is fairly short.


  Primula farinosa  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Primulaceae  

Distribution
family8Primrose family8Primulacaea
 BSBI maps
genus8Primula
Primula
(Primroses)

BIRD'S-EYE PRIMROSE

Primula farinosa

Primrose Family [Primulaceae]  

WildFlowerFinder Homepage