Primula veris

Primula veris
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Primulaceae
Genus:	Primula
Species:	P. veris
Binomial name
Primula veris L.

Primula veris (Cowslip; syn. Primula officinalis Hill) is a flowering plant in the genus Primula. The species is native throughout most of temperate Europe and Asia, and although absent from more northerly areas including much of northwest Scotland, it reappears in northernmost Sutherland and Orkney.

Names

The common name cowslip derives from the Old English cūslyppe meaning "cow dung", probably because the plant was often found growing amongst the manure in cow pastures.

The species name vēris means "of spring".

Folk names include Cowslip, Cuy lippe, Herb Peter, Paigle, Peggle, Key Flower, Key of Heaven, Fairy Cups, Petty Mulleins, Crewel, Buckles, Palsywort, Plumrocks.

Description

Primula veris

Primula veris is a low growing herbaceous perennial plant with a rosette of leaves 5–15 cm long and 2–6 cm broad. The deep yellow flowers are produced in the spring between April and May; they are in clusters of 10-30 together on a single stem 5–20 cm tall, each flower 9–15 mm broad. Red-flowered plants occur rarely.

Habitat

Primula veris in a meadow.

Cowslip is frequently found on more open ground than Primula vulgaris (primrose) including open fields, meadows, and coastal dunes and clifftops. The seeds are often included in wild-flower seed mixes used to landscape motorway banks and similar civil engineering earth-works where the plants may be seen in dense stands.

Similar species

Red-flowered Primula veris plants

It may be confused with the closely related Primula elatior (oxlip) which has a similar general appearance although the oxlip has larger, pale yellow flowers more like a primrose, and a corolla tube without folds.

Chemical constituents

Primula veris contains glycosides, primeverin, primulaverin and the saponin primula acid A. It can have irritant effects in those who are allergic to it.

Cuisine

Cowslip leaves have been traditionally used in Spanish cooking as a salad green. Uses in English cookery includes using the flowers to flavour country wine and vinegars; sugared to be a sweet or eaten as part of a composed salad while the juice of the cowslip is used to prepare tansy for frying. The close cousin of the cowslip, the primrose (P. vulgaris), has often been confused with the cowslip and its uses in cuisine are similar with the addition of its flowers being used as a colouring agent in desserts.

References

• Davidson, Alan. Oxford Companion to Food (1999), "Cowslip". p. 221 ISBN 0-19-211579-0

External links

• Charles Darwin on Primula hybrids, including cowslips and oxlips Accessed 8 May 2007
• Image of yellow and red-flowered cowslips growing on a farm in Gloucestershire, England Accessed 8 May 2007
•  "Cowslip". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. 
•  "Cowslip". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.