British wildflowers Cowslip
British wildflowers
069 II Cowslip Primula Veris L
British wildflowers of the Fields and Medows
The Cowslip ranges farther east than the Primrose in the N. Temperate Zone, where it is found in Europe, Siberia, W. Asia, N. Africa, but, like it, is unknown so far in early deposits.
In Great Britain the Cowslip is found in the Peninsula provinces, in the Channel, Thames, Anglia, and Severn provinces, in S. Wales it does not occur in Radnor or Cardigan, in N. Wales not in Montgomery or Merioneth, but throughout the Trent and Mersey provinces, except Mid Lancashire, and in the Humber, Tyne, Lakes provinces generally. In the E. Lowlands it is general except in Wigtown, and in the W. Lowlands except in Peebles and Selkirk, in the S. Highlands except in Stirling, S. Perth, Elgin, Easterness, and in the W. Highlands in Westerness, Main Argyle, Dumbarton, and in W. Sutherland, and Caithness. In Northumberland it grows at 1600 ft.
There is no more common plant than the Cowslip in most lowland counties of Great Britain in early spring than the Cowslip, which clots the meadows, fields, and upland pastures with its yellow flowers as uniformly as the Lady's Smock does the moister meadows and marshes. It also grows under hedgerows in the shade, in copses, and woodlands, when it is taller and finer in flower and foliage.
The general habit of the Cowslip is like that of the Primrose, but the scape bears more than one flower. It is a typical rosette plant.
The radical leaves of the Cowslip are heart-shaped to egg-shaped, narrowed at the base, running down the stalk, wrinkled, with rounded teeth, shorter than those of the Primrose, hairy beneath.
The flowers are in umbels, funnel-shaped, drooping, yellow, with orange dots. The calyx is bell-shaped with short egg-shaped teeth, loosely enclosing the corolla. The capsule is oval, and half as long as the calyx.
The scapes are 6-8 in. tall. The flowers may be sought in May and June. The Cowslip is perennial and easily propagated by division.
The Cowslip has flowers very similar to those of the Primrose or Oxlip, but the limb of the corolla is not flat but cup-shaped, and the throat is open, with obscure not thickened folds.
It has orange honey-guides, and the flowers are very strongly scented. The Cowslip usually grows in the open, while the Primrose grows in the shade. It is visited by humble bees and Anthophora pi/ipes.
Photo. B. Hanley - Cowslip (Primula veris, L.)
The capsule is 5-valved and opens out at the top, and the seeds are shaken out by the wind.
The Cowslip is a truly clay-loving plant, growing freely on a clay soil, and it is common on Liassic clay and Boulder clay.
Phyllosticta primulaecola attacks it. A moth, Eupaecilia ruficiliana, feeds on it.
The second Latin name means of spring, in reference to the time of flowering. The different names by which it is known are: Arte-tyke, Horse Buckles, Cooslip, Coostropple, Couslop, Cow Paigle, Cowslap, Cowslek, Cowslip, Cowslip Primrose, Cowslop, Cow's-mouth, Cow-stripling, Cow-stropple, Crewel, Culverkeys, Fairy Cups, Galligaskins, Gaskins, Herb Paralysy, Herb Peter, Ladykeys, Lady's Fingers, May Flower, Paigle, Cow Paigle, Palsywort, Passwort, Peter, Petty Mullein, Plaggis, Plum-rocks, St. Peterwort.
Paigle is a name given to several different plants, and several sayings are current in connection with it in different parts.
The yellow marigold, the Sunnes owne flower, Pagle, and Pinke, that Decke fair Florals bower. Professor Skeat derives it from the French paillole, Italian pagniola, a spangle, the root beingpaille, straw, from Latin palea. As to the name Palsywort, Gerarde says: They are thought to be good against the paines of the joints and sinewes , and A conserve made with the flowers . .. prevaileth woonderfully against the palsie. Artetyke is a corruption of Arthritica. a name given because the Cowslip was supposed to be good for pains in the joints.
The name Cowslip is supposed to be Cow's lip. In Yorkshire it is called Cooslop from Keslop, the prepared stomach of a calf used as rennet, and the wrinkled leaves and calyx were connected with that of the calf's stomach.
It is called Herb Peter because the flowers resemble a bunch of keys, the badge of St. Peter. Ariel is pictured by Shakespeare reclining in a Cowslip's bell , the crimson spots being called Gold Coasts Spots - these be rubies fairy favours .
This plant is the Key-flower in Germany. An ointment was formerly made of the flowers for the complexion, and supposed to take away spots by the Doctrine of Signatures.
Quite recently a writer said: The village Damsels use it as a cosmetic, and we know it adds to the beauty of the complexion of the town-immured lassie when she searches for and gathers it herself in the early spring morning .
Photo. Matson - Cowslip (Primula veris, L.)
This plant was called Our Lady's Bunch of Keys and St. Peter-wort from its resemblance to a bunch of keys. It was supposed to induce sleep. Another legend has it that the nightingale is only to be heard when Cowslips are in profusion, but the nightingale's range is not so extensive as that of the Cowslip. It was used as a drug in the time of Chaucer. At the present day it is used in country districts for making Cowslip wine, which is very like the sweet wines of S. France.
Cowslip smells of anise. The leaves have been used as potherbs and in salads. Silkworms are fed upon them. Liqueurs and syrups are flavoured with the leaves.
It is not variable under cultivation, though it is remarkable that Parkinson and Gerarde speak of a double variety. Milton speaks of the yellow Cowslip and the pale Primrose
The Cowslip has been used as a corroborant and antispasmodic, and as an anodyne.
Essential Specific Characters:
200. Cowslip - Primula veris, L. - Flowering stem a scape, leaves ovate, contracted below, flowers pale yellow, in drooping umbels, calyx cam-panulate, teeth ovate, corolla limb cup-shaped, capsule oval.
British wildflowers the Cowslip
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