The drumstick heads of this Primula add early spring interest to the streamside.
One of the most familiar and easiest of the primroses, Primula denticulata, or the drumstick Primula, brings welcome colour to a damp, humus-rich site. A native of the Himalaya, where it grows in moist alpine zones, it produces a basal rosette of slender, spoon-shaped, pale-green leaves, with slightly toothed margins, which earn it the Latin name denticulata. The globular, tightly packed flower heads emerge nestled close to the foliage, and as the stout stems extend, the flower head increases in size and rises above the leaves to reach 45cm in height. The flower colour ranges from pure white, through lilac, to a reddish-purple, with all colours having a yellow eye.