Edible plant - novice (in flower), intermediate (no flowers) Season - leaves all year, flowers late winter to early spring Common names Primrose, common primrose, wild primrose, English primrose
Scientific name meaning: Primula is derived from the Latin Primus, which means first. Vulgaris means vulgar or common
Habitat  Primrose can be found in woodland, on lawns, on grassy banks and near hedgerows. It is distributed throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. |
Overall structure  Primrose forms a tight rosette of crinkled, rich green, long leaves at its base. From this rosette many short flower stalks appear. |
Leaves  The leaves are oval to spoon shaped and can reach 15cm long. They are downy on the underside. The vein pattern is reticulate (like a net) giving them a crinkly, cabbage-like appearance. |
Stem  The flower stems are cyclindrical, leafless and hairy. |
Flowers  The flower is a tube with five lobes looking like individual petals. Each of these petals has a notch at its tip. The petal lobes are white or lemon coloured and at their base the are dark yellow. |
Seeds  The spherical seed pod ripens to almost white. The seeds inside are black or brown. |
Possible lookalikes  When not in flower, primrose can look remarkably similar to foxgloves (Digitalis spp), pictured, comfrey (Symphytum spp) or poison primrose (Primula obconica). All of these are poisonous or carcinogenic. Therefore, it is best for novice foragers to only pick when primrose is in flower and only those with white or lemon yellow flowers.
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Use as a food The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. The flowers can be eaten raw in a salad or made into a cordial if collected early enough. Frosted (sugared) primrose flowers are popular for use in cake decorating Use in herbal medicine and medicine Primrose contains salicylates, which offer some analgesic and blood thinning properties. It has also been used as an expectorant, to treat nervous headaches and as a tonic for the respiratory and nervous systems
If you are suffering from any ailment or need medical advice, please see your General Practitioner.
Hazards Primrose contains contains salycilates so it should be avoided by pregnant women, those with a blood thinning disorder or taking blood thinning medications, and anybody who is allergic to paracetamol. Some people are also known to be allergic to primrose
Other uses None known Importance to other species Provides a food source for pollinators, slugs, mice, birds, rabbits and deer
Always stay safe when foraging. You need to be 100% sure of your identification, 100% sure that your foraged item is edible, and 100% sure that you are not allergic to it (it is good practice to always try a small amount of any new food you are consuming). If in doubt, leave it out!
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