Nature on our doorsteps: An Sabhaircín, the Primrose

Rosaleen Dwyer is the County Heritage Officer at South Dublin County Council – every week she gives us an insight into the natural heritage around us and the beautiful biodiversity of the plants and creatures.

THE Common Primrose is one of our delightful heralds of spring.

It generally flowers between March until May, but in mild winters it can start flowering as early as late January.

Its Latin name ‘Primula’ translates as ‘primus’ or ‘first’, referring to this lovely flower as being the first flower of spring.

Primroses grow in moist but well-drained soils in partial shade, and it is often spotted in springtime woodlands, hedgerows, and soil banks and ditches along roadways.

Primrose’s tongue-like leaves have a wrinkled texture, and these form a rosette of leaves close to the ground from which the flowering stems grow.

These stems produce just one flower at the top, unlike some of Primrose’s other relatives like the Cowslip or garden Polyanthus which hold bunches of short-stemmed flowers at the tip of the stem.

Primroses can be seen on well drained earth banks along the side of the road.

While the colour of the wild Common Primrose is a lovely soft lemony yellow, garden varieties also produce red, pink, or purple flowers.

The flower has a long tube behind the petals, and this holds the female and male reproductive parts with nectar at the very bottom.

Because of the shape of this flower tube, only insects with very long tongues can access the nectar at the base.

These insects include butterflies, moths and the Ginger-backed bee.

All Primrose flowers contain both male and female parts, but the position of these in the flower tube varies.

Some flowers show male parts at the top of the tube with female parts at the bottom, while in others it is the other way around.

This may help to prevent the flowers pollinating themselves. In the past, the Primrose was used in traditional medicine to treat gout, insomnia, headaches and coughs, while its leaves and flowers were also eaten in salads.

The appearance of Primrose in early spring was therefore welcome, for more than just the lovely sight and scent of it flowers.