Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Alpine Primrose
Primula angustifolia
Primrose family (Primulaceae)

This lovely miniature is found through the high central mountains of Colorado and northern New Mexico. Leaves are long, thick, and narrow and with the pink flowers sitting within the leaves It is easy to confuse this plant with Lewisia (Lewisia pygmaea) another ground-hugging beauty. Lewisia has longer leaves and its flower petals are long and narrow and not notched . "Angustifolia" is a common specific epithet meaning "narrow leaved."


©2011 Ernie Marx

Description

miniature to only 3" tall. Leaves thick, to 2" long, very narrow, , some with short hairs. One or two flowers per stem, tube to 1/3" long, pink but may be purple or occasionally white. Flower are showy to 3/4" across, fragrant, with 5 notched petals. .

Field Marks

Tufted mound of succulent-looking leaves with fragrant pink flowers just above the leaves.

© Al Schneider

An entire leaf has smooth edges. Not toothed or lobed.

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

corolla -- The name for all the petals of a flower taken together.

Glands are plant structures that secrete liquids, salts or other substances. Glands often appear as hairs with a drop of liquid at the end.

capsule -- a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. In most cases the capsule splits apart to release seeds.

ovoid -- egg-shaped, with the wider portion at the base.