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Primroses - Western Isles - Wild Flowers - Wildflowers & Flora of The Isle of Harris and The Isle of Lewis - Hebrides Flowers
The Primrose wildflower, native to Britain and Europe. Seen all over The Western Isles, a small plant, typically no more than 4ins high. Its flowers which vary in colour from pale cream to deep yellow. |
Western Isles Wildflowers - Wild flowers of The Hebrides
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Primroses - Primula Vulgaris
Western Isles Wildflowers
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Description
The crinkled green leaves form loose rosettes, and are covered on the underside with a fine layer of downy hairs. It is a small plant, typically no more than 10 cm (4") high.
The Flowers
The flowers vary from pale cream to deep yellow, 20-40 mm in diameter. There are five-petal to each flower with a darker yellow eye.The Primrose is native to Britain and Europe. The five petals represent birth, initiation, consummation, repose and death.
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Primroses - Tolsta - Western Isles |
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Primrose - First Flower of The Year
The primrose - well-known as being one of the very first flowers of the year. Its common name comes from 'prima rosa' meaning 'first flower' and its presence symbolises the spring and Easter has arrived.
The primroses flower in woodlands and hedgerows, shaded mountain-cliffs and north-facing banks. Primroses like shaded areas but also like damp conditions.
Insects Find The Nectar
Insects visit the flowers in search of nectar, which is located at the bottom of the flower tube. The primrose provides an important early nectar source for bees and is particularly attractive to bee flies. |
Bees Use The Flowers for The Leaves Provide food for Dragonfly Larvae - Also Caterpillars Food
The bees use the flower as food. The plant has little attraction for butterflies but it has a sweet smell which attracts bees and hoverflies. The leaves are also the food plant of dragonfly larvae. The leaves provide food for some moth caterpillars, such as the Belted Beauty and Water Ermine.
Luck in Love
If perchance you find a primrose that has petals, it is said that the wildflower brings luck in love and marriage.
Pollination
Primrose flowers are of two kinds - pin-eyed, with the style above the stamens; and thrum-eyed, with the style below the stamens. For successful pollination, pollen from a pin-eye plant must reach the style of a thrum-eyed plant, or the other way round. Primroses are pollinated at night by moths attracted by the bright petal colours..
Many Common Names - Butter Rose - English Cowslip - Jack-In-Box
The Primrose seems to have amassed many different common names - Oxslip, Butter Rose, Jack in Box, Jack-in-the-Green, King-Charles-in-the-Oak, Lady's Frills, Milk Maid, Plimrose, Primorole, St. Peter's Wort, Summeren, Spink, May Spink, Summerlocks.
Medicinal Uses
Hundreds of years ago, these wildflowers were grown for their medicinal and sweetening qualities, for example, it was believed that stem juice rubbed onto the face removed spots and freckles! Romans used the plant to treat malaria. Primroses were made into a tincture for restlessness and insomnia.
In the early days of medicine, the Primrose wildflowers were considered an important remedy in muscular rheumatism, paralysis and gout. Even today, in herbal medicine the infusion of the root can be taken in tablespoonful doses as a remedy against nervous headaches
Fairies
Folklore is attached to primroses - some think that primroses give the ability to see fairies. It was also said that if you touched a fairy rock with the right number of Primroses in a posy you will be shown the way to fairyland. Posies would be left on doorsteps so that fairies would bless the house and the people in it. Carry a Primrose flower and peer over the petals in order to see fairies |
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Western Isles Wildflowers - Flora & Flowers of The Outer Hebrides - Hebridean Wild Flowers |
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