What Flower Is the Primrose? A Complete Guide to Getting to Know It

Scientific name: Primula spp.

Other names: yingcao (Japanese name), nianjinghua

Family and genus: Primulaceae, Primula

The plants of the genus Primula are widely cultivated around the world and have a fairly long history, and in recent years they have developed rapidly, becoming an important class of garden flowers today. Both the Chinese name baochun and the scientific name Primula contain the meaning of "early flowering." Blooming in early spring is an important characteristic of this genus.

Cultivation history of the primrose: based on records in local gazetteers and the traditional custom in Yunnan of growing primroses in pots for appreciation during the Spring Festival. China's Tibetan primrose was introduced to Britain around 1820, and it is said that this flower was collected from a private courtyard in Guangzhou. It can be seen that the cultivation of plants of the genus Primula in China began at least during the Ming and Qing dynasties. In Europe, local species such as the cowslip P. veris and the common primrose P. vulgaris are all yellow-flowered wild species, and it was not until the early 17th century, after the Caucasian common primrose P. vulgaris var. sibthorpi was introduced, that red, purple and other colors appeared, and it was first planted in gardens. After P. auricula was introduced from the Alps to Britain in 1596, it quickly became a flower loved by the English. From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of this century, Britain, the United States and other countries sent people to China to collect primrose specimens and seedlings, many of which have become garden plants.

Origin and distribution of the primrose: there are about 500 species of the genus Primula worldwide, the vast majority of which are distributed in the temperate and subtropical alpine regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with only a few produced in the Southern Hemisphere. China has about 300 species, mainly distributed in Sichuan, Yunnan and southern Tibet, followed by Shaanxi, Hubei and Guizhou, and very few in the remaining provinces (regions).

Morphological characteristics: the plants of this genus are basically all perennial herbs, but some species are often cultivated as 1- or 2-year-old flowers. All are basal, forming a rosette-like leaf cluster. The flowers are red, yellow, orange, blue, purple, white and other colors, arranged on the scape in umbels, racemes, capitula, or solitary in the leaf cluster; the corolla is funnel-shaped or salver-shaped, 5-lobed, widely spreading; stamens 5, attached to the corolla tube or the throat of the corolla, equal in number to and opposite the corolla lobes, included. The capsule is spherical or cylindrical. Seeds are numerous and small.

Species, varieties and cultivars of the primrose: according to the research of plant taxonomists in recent years, the plants of the genus Primula in China can be divided into 30 sections. In cultivation, they are mainly divided into greenhouse pot flower types, perennial flower types, and special-purpose original species for rock gardens, alpine gardens, wild gardens and bog gardens, etc.