Bird's-eye primrose (<i>Primula farinosa</i>)

Mauve, yellow-eyed flowers of Primula farinosa—the “floury primrose”

Primula farinosa is a flowering plant growing in damp grasslands and bogs in northern Eurasia and mountainous areas more south. The picture was taken on a wet April morning in the Botanical Garden of Bremen's Rhododendron Park. Not within its typical green-meadow environment, the dark soil provides a good background to contrast the rounded clusters of mauve flowers and the basal leaves. The stalks and leaf undersides show a white surface cover of tiny, extruded, waxy flavonoid crystals (see electron microscope image)—looking like flour coating. The specific epithet farinosa in the scientific name, which means floury, reflects this characteristic feature. The common German name for Primula farinosa is “Mehl-Primel” (also written “Mehlprimel”), literally meaning flour-primrose. The common English name bird's-eye primrose, also spelled birds-eye primrose or birdseye primrose, refers to the yellow ring marking the throat of the otherwise purplish red-to-white corolla.

▶	Primula farinosa - Bird's-eye Primrose
▶	Birdseye Primrose
▶	Journal of Ecology: Primula farinosa L.
▶	Mehlprimel

Mauve firework of Primula farinosa (bird's-eye primrose)

Mauve, yellow-eyed flowers of Primula farinosa—the “floury primrose”