See also Auricula, P. auricula; Oxlip, P. elatior; Polyanthus, Primula × polyantha; and Cowslip, P. veris.

Further note: French texts do not differentiate sentiments between Primula species save for P. auricula. I have therefore grouped their references here, but the distinct names may be found on the other pages.

☙ Primrose

Genus Primula L. (1753), WFO HP:FE O&B FS CHW especially Primula vulgaris Huds. (1762). WFO

Period Breton (brezhoneg):

P. vulgaris: bleun-nevez [sic] [= bleunienn nevez?] f? LB

Period English: primrose; common primrose. HP:FE

Period French: primevère (prime-vère FDE BD) f. (from Latin primo vere, 'the beginning of spring'). BD CLT LA-M LB

P. vulgaris: Formal: primevère a grandes fleurs f. ('large-flowered primrose'). LB Colloquial: dénuite ?; LB fièvre f. ('fever'); LB pommerole f. (derived from Latin primo vere, as are similar following; Wiktionary indicates this may be Normandy form); LB printemps m. ('spring'); LB promenolle f?; LB prumerolle f?; LB pruniole f?; LB Suzannes f.pl. ('Susans'). LB

Period German: Primel f. JRV

Plantagenet English: prumerose; primula, calendula, ligustrum. (Promptorium Parvulorum 1440); a prumerose; primrosa, primula veris. (Catholicon Anglicum 1483). HNE

Tudor English: primrose (Turner 1548, 1568). HNE

Elizabethian English: primrose (Gerard 1597, 1568). HNE

Stuart English: primevere; the primrose (Cotgrave 1611). HNE

Sentiments:

🏶︎ EspéranceHope ◼︎ (1811); BD

🏶︎ Première fleurFirst flower ◼︎ (1811); BD

🏶︎ Première jeunesseEarly youth ◼︎ (1819); CLT LA-M

 Early youth ▲︎◆︎ (1825-1884); HP:FE TTA CHW TM FSO LH S&K HGA:OT HGA:LPF GAL RT:LOF JS* KG

 Childhood ▲︎◆︎ (1839); FS ESP

🏶︎ Virtue ▲︎ (1829); DLD

🏶︎ Have confidence in me ▲︎ (1832); SJH

🏶︎ Unpatronised merit ▲︎ (1834); O&B

🏶︎ Forsaken ▲︎ (1840); TM

🏶︎ Sadness ▲︎ (1867); GAL

🏶︎ Du biſt mein einziges Glück.You are my only happiness. ●︎ ︎(c.1880). JRV

* Marked as British meaning.

Red/rose-coloured:

🏶︎ Unpatronised merit ▲︎◆︎ (1832-1867). EWW SJH TTA S&K HGA:LPF GAL

Region:

Note: For the purposes of this article, this section relates to Primula vulgaris only. Please see individual articles for other Primula species. Primula species at large are found across the northern hemisphere, plus southern South America, Indo-China and Malesia.

Native: Northern Africa (Algeria, Morocco); the Caucasus; Western Asia (Cyprus, the East Aegean Islands, Lebanon-Syria, Turkey); and across Europe to Poland and Ukraine, and including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Ireland.WFO

Seasonality: Semi-evergreen perennial flowering in early spring.

Period Colours: TBA.

Calendar:

🏶︎ 21 March - In Fabre d'Églantine's 1793 rural emblem annex to the French Republican calendar, Prime-vère is the emblem of 1 Germinal (21 March).

Heraldry:

Noted a few times in James Parker's glossary. The colour varies, often specified, but 'the shape of the natural flower should be retained'.

Or, three primroses within a double tressure flory counterflory gules--PRIMROSE.

Argent, on a fesse azure between three primroses gules as many mullets or--PRIMROSE, Scotland.

Argent, on a fesse azure three primroses of the field--PRIMROSE.

Or, a lion rampant vert armed and langued gules--PRIMROSE, Dalmeny, Scotland; [quartering argent on a fesse azure between three primroses vert as many mullets or].

Azure, a chevron argent between three primroses slipped proper--CARSTAIRS, Kilconquhar.

Azure, on a saltire between a mullet in chief and base and a decrescent and increscent in fesse argent a primrose slipped proper--HAGNE, Scotland.

Ellacombe also mentions the arms of the Earls of Rosebery, 'Primrose', as 'three primroses within a double tressure fleury counter-fleury, or', at p.233.

Cultural and Religious: In his Floral Emblems, Phillips gives a selection of primroses and their saints:

🏶︎ St Adelaide - 'The red variety, aculis'.

🏶︎ St Agatha - 'The common primrose'.

🏶︎ St Catherine de Ricci - 'The polyanthus'.

🏶︎ St Theodora - 'The early red, Verna rubra'.

Cited Species:

I have also consulted Ellacombe's suggested article, 'The Primroses' by J.C. Niven in The Garden, 29 January 1876, p.101-108, and he is cited below as JCN.

  Niven also gives P. verticillata Forssk. (1775),WFO now identified as Evotrochis verticilata (Forssk.) Fırat & Lidén (2021), found in the Arabian mountains.

🏶︎ Primula amoena M.Beib. (1808),WFO JCN Caucasian primrose.

 [...] introduced some fifty years ago, and recorded as a very handsome species, has long since disappeared from cultivation. [...] its flowers are purple and funnel-shaped [...] it is a native of the Caucasus, and is recorded as flowering in April and May. JCN

🏶︎ Primula auriculata ?,JCN Niven gives this as synonymous with P. magellanica, but neither contemporary definitions of these species match his description:

 [...] the colour is combined pink and lilac, with a distinct yellowish blotch on the mouth of the tube [...] a native of Hungary and Austria [...] JCN

🏶︎ Primula auriculata Lam. (1793),WFO the auricula, but not that Auricula.

 [...] small rosy flowers [...] occurring on the mountains in Greece, and also on the Caucasian range [...] flowers in May [...] JCN

 = Primula longifolia Curtis (1797).WFO JCN

🏶︎ Primula capitata Hook. (1850),WFO JCN Niven had grown one for several years, but had, like his peers, been unsuccessful in getting it to replicate;

 [...] the back of the leaf is silvery-white, owing to a coating of powdery matter, and the same character applies, in a modified degree, to the upper surface as well [...] numerous small dark purple flowers [...] It was found growing by Dr. Hooker at high altitudes at Lachen, a pass between Sikkim and Thibet [...] JCN

🏶︎ Primula cortusoides L. (1753),WFO JCN Siberian primrose.

 [...] an old and well-known plant from Siberia [...] charming pink flowers [...] it flowers in May and a second time in August or September [...] JCN

🏶︎ Primula denticulata Sm. (1808),WFO JCN drumstick primrose - Niven attributes this species to Wallich, and says there are two variations from different seeds introduced to Britain, one of Belfast and one of Edinburgh;

 [...] a native of Silhet and Nepal, and various slightly modified forms, enjoying a wide distribution on the Himalayas [...] introduced by Captain Madden and Dr. Royle about the same time [...] delicate pinky-lilac blooms, which are produced so early in the season that they are liable to be nipped by early spring frosts and cutting east winds [...] JCN

 = ? Primula pucherrima Hort ex Pax (1905)WFO JCN - Too late in history for Nevin's article, but appears to match - he says this is a provisional name for a plant raised by Messrs. Backhouse from seeds sent from the Himalayas as P. denticulata nana:

 [...] flowers are lavender-coloured at the margin of the corolla, shading centrewards into a soft purple, and finishing off with a pale yellow eye, which encircles the almost closed tube. JCN

🏶︎ Primula erosa (Wall. ex Duby) Regel (1853),WFO JCN - Niven says 'the flowers are pale lavender';

 = Primula fortunii Moore (1861)WFO JCN - Niven spells this fortunei and calls it 'the smooth-leaved variety of denticulata'.

🏶︎ Primula farinosa L. (1753),WFO JCN bird's-eye primrose;

 [...] of the north part of Yorkshire [...] charming pink colour [...] a lovely pink colour [...] JCN

 [...] almost defies garden cultivation, though in its native habitats in the north it grows in most ungenial places. I have seen places in the neighbourhood of the bleak hill of Ingleborough, where it almost forms the turf; yet away from its native habitat it is difficult to keep, except in a greenhouse.HNE p.233

 Niven also mentions a variety with white flowers, P. farinosa alba, which I've not yet confirmed, which he calls 'of exceptional occurence'; and P. farinosa acaulis, 'peculiar to one or two localities in the North Riding of Yorkshire, where it was discovered some years ago by Mr Backhouse'. This latter plant is not described.

🏶︎ Primula finmarchica Wulfen (1779),WFO JCN WFO identifies this with P. nutans below, but iNaturalist identifies it as a separate species.

 [...] two or three pretty white flowers tinged with violet [...] a very miffy plant to deal with [...] It blooms in June, and is a native of Norway and Finland [...] JCN

 = Primula norwegica Retz. (1796)WFO JCN - Niven spells this norvegica.

🏶︎ Primula glaucescens Moretti (1822),WFO JCN glaucous primrose;

 [...] leaves of a dark green colour [...] five or six handsome funnel-shaped blossoms [...] their colour being a rosy-lilac [...] It is a native of the Italian Alps, and blooms with us in June. JCN

 = Primula calycina Duby ex. Gaudin (Fl. Helb. ii. 94)WFO JCN - Niven identifies this as its name in cultivation.

🏶︎ Primula halleri J.F.Gmel (1775),WFO long-flowered primrose;

 [...] a few flowers of an orange-red colour [...] It blooms in May or June, and is a native of the Swiss Alps, but rarely met with in cultivation. JCN

 = Primula longiflora All. (1785);WFO JCN

🏶︎ Primula hirsuta All. (1773),WFO hairy primrose;

 = Primula viscosa Vill. (1779).WFO

 = Primula ciliata Schrank. (1792)WFO JCN - Niven identifies this with P. viscosa All.

 = Primula decora Sims (1817)WFO JCN (Primula hirsuta subsp. hirsuta). Niven: 'the colour of the flowers [...] is lavender'.

🏶︎ Primula integrifolia Jacq., JCN not yet confirmed.

 [...] whose flowers, by the way, are of a dark purple [...] It is a native of the Mountains of Austria. JCN

🏶︎ Primula japonica A.Gray (1859),WFO JCN Japanese primrose, also Japanese cowslip, queen of primroses, and valley red; Niven's 'Japan primrose'.

 [...] introduced some years ago by Mr. Bull [...] a deep crimson [...] JCN

🏶︎ Primula latifolia Lapeyr. (1813),WFO JCN viscid primrose;

 [...] rose-coloured flowers [...] It is a native of the Pyrenees. JCN

 = Primula viscosa All. (1785).WFO JCN (Primula latifolia subsp. latifolia) Niven also gives varieties P. viscosa var. intermedia, a garden hybrid, 'deep purple colour, with a well-defined white eye', and P. viscosa var. nivea, or nivalis (not to be confused with P. nivea Fischer), which has white flowers and is 'a native of Switzerland'.

 [...] a dwarf, compact plant, with dark green leaves, toothed at their margins [...] the flowers are produced on short scapes, of a rosy-lavender colour, shading to white towards the eye, which is open [...] It flowers in April, and is a native of the Alps and Pyrenees. JCN

🏶︎ Primula luteola Rupr. (1863),WFO JCN

 [...] from the Caucasus [...] in appearance reminding one of Senecio Doria on a small scale [...] small yellow flowers [...] JCN

🏶︎ Primula macrophylla D.Don (1824),WFO JCN - Niven mentions that while previously 'exceptionally rare', it has recently been raised abundantly in cultivation.

 [... from] the sloping sides of the lofty passes of the Himalayas, in the neighbourhood of Gossanthan [...] a light purple colour [...] JCN

 = Primula purpurea Royle (1836).WFO JCN

🏶︎ Primula marginata Curtis (1792),WFO JCN silver-edged primrose; Niven attributes this to Willdenow, and calls it 'laced primrose', but it appears to match;

 The flowers are produced freely in April [...] and are of a lavender colour [...] It is a native of the Dauphiny and also of the Apennines. JCN

 = Primula calycina Duby ex. Gaudin (Fl. Helb. ii. 94)WFO JCN - Niven identifies this as its name in cultivation.

🏶︎ Primula minima L. (1753),WFO JCN fairy primrose; Niven also calls it by this name;

 [...] a very red colour [...] It is a native of the highest altitudes on the European Alps, where it is found just below the line of perpetual snow. JCN

🏶︎ Primula mollis Nutt. ex Hook. (1854),WFO JCN

 [...] from the Bootan range of hills [...] deep rose colour [...] the calyx is intensely crimson [...] a very desirable greenhouse plant, flowering abundantly in April, May, and June. JCN

🏶︎ Primula munroi Lindl. (1847),WFO Munro's primrose;

 [...] gathered by CAPT Munro at a high altitude (11,500 feet) on the Himalayas, where he found it associated with Cyananthus lobatus [...] three or four white, almost circular blossoms, suffused with the slightest shade of lilac imaginable. JCN

 = Primula involucrata Wall. ex Duby (1844)WFO JCN - this species is now identified as P. munroi subsp. munroi. Niven also gives the variety P. involucrata var. munroi which I could not place with WFO, but would seem to be this same subspecies. 'They flower both in May and in the autumn'.

🏶︎ Primula nutans Georgi (1775),WFO sleepy primrose or Siberian primrose. Niven mentions it is not seen in cultivation;

 [...] from the Altai Mountains [...] five or six nodding rosy-pink flowers, produced in April. JCN

 = Primula sibirica Jacq. (1779).WFO JCN

🏶︎ Primula palinuri Petagna. (1787),WFO JCN;

 [...] Naples, its native country [...] suffused with that mealy matter that we have already recognised as met with in some of our common yellow garden Auriculas. JCN

🏶︎ Primula parryi A.Gray (1862),WFO JCN Parry's primrose. Niven says it was recently reintroduced to British cultivation by Messrs. Backhouse;

 [...] we believe a native of the extreme northern parts of the Rocky Mountains, and was first introduced some fifteen years ago by Mr Thompson, of Ipswich [...] medium-sized flowers of a purple colour with a yellow centre [...] JCN

🏶︎ Primula pedemontana E.Thomas (1828),WFO JCN Piedmont primrose.

 [...] they combine a deep rosy tint along with the lavender [...] JCN

🏶︎ Primula × polyantha Mill. (1768),WFO see Polyanthus;

 = Primula brevistyla DC. (1815).WFO LB

🏶︎ Primula prolifera Wall. (1820),WFO Yunnan cowslip, candelabra primrose, or glory of the bog;

 [...] the only Primula with which we are yet acquainted from the mountains of Java, and it we only know my description [...] gigantic in size, with yellow flowers [...] JCN

 = Primula imperialis Jungh. (1840).WFO JCN

🏶︎ Primula praenitens Ker Gawl. (1821),WFO JCN - Niven calls this the 'Chinese primrose', introduced in 1821;

 The supposition was that it was a Siberian plant introduced into China and largely cultivated there [... ] highly-coloured [...] JCN

 = Primula sinensis Sabine ex Lindl. (1821).WFO JCN - Niven gives P. sinensis erecta as a variation, undescribed.

🏶︎ Primula scotica Hook. (1821),WFO JCN Scottish primrose (Niven calls it the 'Scotch bird's-eye primrose').

 [...] the flowers are smaller, of a deep purple colour, lighted up to intense loveliness by a bright yellow eye. [...] It is a rare Scotch plant, found only in the wild mountain districts of Sutherlandshire and in the Orkney Islands [...] It occurs elsewhere in Europe besides Scotland. JCN

🏶︎ Primula serrata Georgi (1775),WFO Niven says it 'blooms in May' and is 'a native of Siberia', resembling his unplaced P. auriculata;

 = Primula davurica Spreng. (1804);WFO JCN

 = Primula intermedia Sims (1809);WFO JCN

🏶︎ Primula sieboldii É.Morren (1873),WFO JCN Siebold's primrose, among other names including Japanese primrose, cherry blossom primrose, Japanese woodland primrose, 'Snowflake', 'Geisha girl', and 'Madam Butterfly'. Niven is a great admirer, calling it 'without exception, one of the finest of all our Primulas', and hypothesising it to be a separate species to P. cortusoides amonena, the name generally in use in cultivation at that point. He records via Thunberg that it is cultivated in Japan, and hypothesises that its varied forms are due to cultivation by Japanese gardeners, rather than the wild form. His personal name for it is P. macrantha, but this is now associated with a different species.

 [...] one of the hardiest and most charming of our April and May flowers, varying in colour from pink to crimson, lilac, and white, with a tendency to a toned-down marginal line, and a lighter blotch down the divisional line of each corolline lobe [...] Thunberg records it as wild in Japan, but rare in its wild state. He, however, says it is largely cultivated; and that, under culture, it assumes many varieties in respect of colour. JCN

 = Primula cortusoides var. amoena Lindl. (1862);WFO JCN

🏶︎ Primula sikkimensis Hook. (1851),WFO JCN Sikkim cowslip, Himalayan cowslip (Niven calls it the 'Sikkim primrose').

 One [...] souvenir of Dr. Hooker's botanical sojourn amongst the high mountain passes of the Sikkim Himalayas. [...] a veritable giant oxlip [...] suffused with sulphur-coloured farinose matter [...] the corolla, of a pale sulphur-yellow [...] the bunches of flower, varying in development, remind one irresitibly of bunches of seals of light-coloured African gold. [...] the fragrance of the old familiar Cowslip concentrated in the highest degree. JCN

🏶︎ Primula stuartii Wall. (1824),WFO JCN Niven notes it was not in British cultivation at that time:

 [...] growing abundantly at Gossanthan along with [P.] purpurea and other species. [...] suffused with sulphury farinose matter, and the flowers are of a full canary yellow [...] it is more than twenty years since I have seen it growing. JCN

🏶︎ Primula veris L. (1753),WFO BD JCN see Cowslip;

 = Primula officinalis Hill. [via Jacq.] (1765)WFO LB (P. veris subsp. veris).

 = Primula inflata Lehm. [via Bot.Cap.] (1817)WFO LB (P. veris subsp. veris).

🏶︎ Primula veris subsp. columnae (Ten.) Maire & Petitm. (1908),WFO see Cowslip.

 = Primula suaveolens Bertol. (1813).WFO LB

🏶︎ Primula vulgaris Huds. (1762),WFO JCN LB common primrose.

 Besides the true typical sulphur-yellow, we have mauve in almost every tint, occurring in what may be called a wild state [although Niven traces them to garden sources] [...] Besides these variations in colour, we have many double varieties, such as double yellow, double white, double purple, and double crimson, the latter the rarest of the lot in cultivation. JCN

 There are few of our wild flowers that run into so many varieties in their wild state. In Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire I have seen the wild primrose of nearly all shades of colour, from the purest white to an almost bright red.HNE p.232

 = Primula acaulis Hill. (1765);WFO HP:FE JCN LB (P. vulgaris subsp. vulgaris), Phillips' 'red variety, aculis';

 = Primula altaica via JCN, synonymous with P. vulgaris var. grandiflora (therefore P. vulgaris subsp. vulgaris);

 = Primula grandiflora Lam. (1778);WFO LB (P. vulgaris subsp. vulgaris);

 [As P.v. var. grandiflora] [...] large, deep mauve-coloured flowers so early in spring as almost to claim its position as one of our mid-winter flowers. JCN

 = Primula odorata Gilib. [via C.B.P.] (1782);WFO LB (P. vulgaris subsp. vulgaris);

Cited Verse:

❧ 'Was not I [the briar] planted of thine owne hand, / To be the primrose of all thy land, / With flowring blossomes, to furnish the prime, / And scarlot berries in Sommer time?', 'Februarie', ◆︎ Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender (1578) Read Here; HNE

 'Vpon her head a Cremosin coronet, / With Damaske roses and Dafadillies set: / Bayleaues betweene, / And Primroses greene / Embellish the sweete Violet.', 'Aprill', ibid., Read Here; HNE

❧ 'I would be blind with weeping, sick with groans, / Look pale as primrose with blood-drinking sighs, / And all to have the noble duke alive.', ◆︎ William Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI (c.1591) 3.2.62; HNE

❧ 'Witness this primrose bank whereon I lie.', ◆︎ William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis (1593) l.151 Read Here; HNE

❧ 'A fairer Nymph yet neuer ſaw mine eie: / She is the pride and primroſe of the reſt, / Made by the maker ſelſe to be admired: / And like a goodly beacon high addreſt, / That is with ſparks of heauenly beautie fired.', ◆︎ Edmund Spenser, Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, London: William Ponsonbie (1595) p.29 Read Here; HNE

❧ 'She is the Rose, the glory of the day, / And mine the Primrose in the lowly shade, / Mine, ah not mine; amisse I mine did say: / Not mine but his, which mine awhile her made: / Mine to be his, with him to liue for ay: / O that so faire a flowre so soone should fade, / And through vntimely tempest fall away.', ◆︎ Edmund Spenser, Daphnaïda (1596) ll.232-238 Read Here; HNE

❧ 'The virgin Lillie, and the Primrose trew,', ◆︎ Edmund Spenser, Prothalamion; or, A Spousall Verse in Honour of the Double Marriage of Ladie Elizabeth and Ladie Katherine Somerset (1596) stanza 2 Read Here; HNE

❧ 'Like a puff'd and reckless libertine, / Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads / And recks not his own rede.', ◆︎ William Shakespeare, Hamlet (c.1599) 1.3.49; HNE

❧ 'I had thought to have let in some of all professions that go the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire.', ◆︎ William Shakespeare, Macbeth (c.1607) 2.3.20; HNE

❧ 'Th' engladden'd spring, forgetful now to weep, / Began t'emblazon from her leafy bed, / [...] And ev'ry bush lay deeply purpured / With violets, the wood's late wintry head / Wide flaming primroses set all on fire,', ◆︎ Giles Fletcher the Younger, Christ's Victory and Triumph in Heaven and Earth, Over and After Death (1610) Part IV, stanza II; HNE

❧ 'Pale primroses, / That die umarried, ere they can behold / Bright Phœbus in his strength.', ◆︎ William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale (c.1610) 4.4.122; HNE

❧ 'The violets, cowslips, and the primroses, / Bear to my closet.', ◆︎ William Shakespeare, Cymbeline (c.1611) 1.5.95; HNE

 'With fairest flowers, / Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele, / I'll sweeten thy sad grave. Thou shalt not lack / The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose;', ibid., 4.2.280-283; HNE

❧ 'As some way-faring man passing a wood, / [...] / But how the Primrose finely strew the path, / Or sweetest Violets lay downe their heads / At some trees root on mossie feather-beds,', in 'The Fifth Song', ◆︎ William Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, Book I (1613) pp.127-128, Read Here; HNE

❧ 'Primrose, first-born child of Ver / Merry spring-time's harbinger, / With her bells dim.', ◆︎ John Fletcher & ◆︎ William Shakespeare, The Two Noble Kinsmen (c.1614) introd. song; HNE

❧ 'The Primrose, when with six leaues gotten grace / Maids as a True-loue in their bosomes place', in 'The Third Song', ◆︎ William Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, Book II (1616) p.80, Read Here; SJH

  Hale puts this line as 'The Primrose, when with saxe leaves gotten grace, / Maids as a true love in their bosom place'.

❧ 'Saron, Portunus, Proteus, help to bring / Our primrose in, the glory of the spring;', ◆︎ Ben Jonson, The Fortunate Isles and Their Union (1625); HNE

❧ 'The primrose drop, the spring's own spouse,', ◆︎ Ben Jonson, Pan's Anniversary; or, the Shepherd's Holiday, (c.1625) 1.1.9; HNE

❧ 'And here and there sweet primrose scattered, / Spangling the blue, fit constellations make: / Some broadly flaming their fair colours spread; / Some other wink'd, as yet but half awake: / Fit were they plac'd, and set in order due: / Nature seem'd work by art, so lively true / A little Heav'n on Earth in narrow space she drew.', ◆︎ Phineas Fletcher, The Purple Island, or the Isle of Man (1633) Canto X, stanza II; HNE

 'The primrose lighted new, her flame displays, / And frights the neighbour hedge with fiery rays : / And all the world renew their mirth and sportive plays.', ibid., Canto XII, stanza LXVII; HNE

❧ 'When the fresh blood grows lively, and returns / Brisk as the April buds in Primrose-season.', ◆︎ John Milton, Comus (A Masque Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634), London: Humphrey Robinson (1637) ll.671-672 Read Here; HNE

❧ 'Bring the rathe Primrose that forsaken dies. / [...] / And every flower that sad embroidery wears;', 'Lycidas', ◆︎ John Milton, Justa Edouardo King Naufrago (1637) Read Here; HNE

❧ 'Now the bright morning Star, Dayes harbinger, / Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her / The Flowry May, who from her green lap throws / The yellow Cowslip, and the pale Primrose.', 'Song on May Morning', ◆︎ John Milton, Poems (1645) Read Here; HNE

❧ 'So Violets, ſo doth the Primroſe fall, / At once the Springs pride and its funeral. / Such eaſy ſweets get off ſtill in their prime, / And ſtay not here, to wear the ſoil of Time. / While courſer Flow'rs (which none would miſs, if paſt;) To ſcorching Summers, and cold Autumns laſt.', 'Daphnis', ◆︎ (Cym.) Henry Vaughan, Thalia Rediviva (1678), Read Here; HNE

❧ 'O Fairest flower no sooner blown but blasted, / Soft silken Primrose fading timelesslie, / Summers chief honour if thou hadst out-lasted / Bleak winters force that made thy blossome drie;', 'On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough', ◆︎ John Milton, Poems (1673) Read Here; HNE

❧ 'And here's the meek / and ſoſt-eyed primroſe.', ◆︎ James Hurdis, The Village Curate: A Poem, London: J. Johnson, No 72, St Paul's Church-yard (1788) p.36 Read Here; HP:FE

❧ 'Beneath the ſhadowing canopy the ground / Glitters with flowery dies; the primroſe, firſt / In moſſy dell returning Spring to greet;', in 'Walk the First: Spring', ◆︎ Thomas Gisborne, Walks in a Forest: or, Poems Descriptive of Scenery and Incidents Characteristic of a Forest, at Different Seasons of the Year, London: J. Davis for B. and J. White, Fleet-Street (1794) p.4 Read Here; FS

❧ 'To the Primrose', ◆︎ (Scot.) John Mayne, The Monthly Magazine, Issue 2, Vol. 23, No.154, 1 March (1807) p.146; SJH FS

  FS and Hale put this line as 'The Primrose, tenant of the glade, / Emblem of virtue in the shade', but at least in its 1807 version, the actual line is 'Lorn tenant of the peaceful glade, / Emblem of Virtue in the ſhade'.

❧ 'A primrose by a river's brim / A yellow primrose was to him, / And it was nothing more.', ◆︎ William Wordsworth, Peter Bell: A Tale in Verse, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster-Row (1819) p.19 Read Here; HNE

❧ 'No smiling knot / Of early primroses, upon the warm / Luxuriant southern banks appears, unhail'd / By him;', in 'The Banks of Tamar', ◆︎ Nicholas Toms Carrington (as Noel Thomas Carrington), The Banks of Tamar, a Poem, With other Pieces, Plymouth-Dock: John Congdon, Noel Thomas Carrington; Booksellers in Plymouth and Dock; Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, London (1820) p.69 Read Here; CHW

❧ 'The Primrose pale, beneath the thorn / That smiles to meet the vernal morn, / Is Nature's meek and modest child, / Unseen that blossoms in the wild;', in 'Garden Rhymes', ◆︎ (Scot.) Alexander Balfour, Forget-Me-Not (ed. Ackermann and Shoberl) (1827) p.349 Read Here; FS

❧ 'By the dewy gleam, by the very breath / Of the primrose tufts in the grass beneath, / Upon thy heart there is laid a spell, / Holy and precious—oh! guard it well!', in 'The Spells of Home', ◆︎ Felicia Dorothea Hemans (née Browne), The Monthly Magazine, Vol.3 (1827) p.141 Read Here; CHW

  Waterman attributes this to Twamley, but this is likely just a mistake of Twamley quoting it somewhere.

❧ 'Primrose' (entry), ◆︎ Richard Chandler Alexander Prior, On the Popular Names of British Plants, Being an Explanation of the Origin and Meaning of the Names of Our Indigenous and Most Commonly Cultivated Species, London: Williams and Norgate (1863) pp.183-184; HNE

❧ 'VI. The Primrose' (chapter), Forbes Watson (ed. J B [John Brown?] Paton), Flowers and Gardens: Notes on Plant Beauty by a Medical Man, London: Strahan & Co., 56 Ludgate Hill (1872) pp.68-82; HNE

Other Verse:

❧ 'Beneath their early shade, the half form'd nest / Of finch or woodlark; and the primrose pale, / And lavish cowslip, wildly scatter'd round, / Give their sweet spirits to the sighing gale.', 'Sonnet VIII. To Spring.', ◆︎ Charlotte Smith (née Turner), Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Essays, Chichester: Dodsley, Gardner, Baldwin, and Bew (1784) ll.4-7 Read here;

❧ 'O'er the pale primrose softly pour / The nectar of a balmy shower; / And is the primrose dear to thee? / And wilt thou not give health to me?', 'A Petition to April. Written During Sickness, 1793.', ◆︎ Susanna Blamier (published post-humous), The Poetical Works of Miss Susanna Blamire, “The muse of Cumberland.”, Edinburgh: John Menzies, 61 Princes Street; R. Tyas, London; D. Robertson, Glasgow; and C. Thurnam, Carlisle (1842) pp.144-146, ll.21-24 Read Here;