Primula scotica
Ecology
A perennial herb, growing in a variety of moist but well-drained, usually heavily grazed, open grassland habitats that are often on calcareous substrates and sometimes liable to some sand accretion. Sites include cliff-tops, the transition zone between grassland and maritime heath, mosaics of heath and machair, and around rock outcrops. It is self-fertile, but many plants never flower. Lowland.
Status
Trends
This species can be adversely affected by both under- and over-grazing, most losses being attributed to one or the other. Its overall distribution is, however, unchanged since the 1962 Atlas.
World Distribution
Endemic.
Count of 10km squares in Great Britain: 42
Count of 10km squares in Ireland: 0
Count of 10km squares in the Channel Isles: 0
Atlas Change Index: -0.18
Scarce Atlas Account
Primula scotica Hook.
Scottish primrose
Status: scarce
P. scotica occurs in a characteristic and species-rich short sward. This may occur in the transitional zone between the Armeria/Plantago sward and maritime heath, as a mosaic with maritime heath, as a mosaic with coarse machair, or with rock outcrops. It is accompanied by Agrostis capillaris, Carex flacca, Danthonia decumbens, Euphrasia spp., Festuca ovina, F. rubra, Plantago lanceolata, P. maritima and Thymus polytrichus, and is rarely found more than 5 km from the sea or above 100 metres.
Although often behaving as a biennial in cultivation, it is perennial in the wild. It reproduces entirely from seed and is heavily dependent on good seed-bed conditions, both edaphic and climatic. Although it is fully self-fertile in the absence of insects, it is visited by syrphids and cross-pollination may result in more vigorous plants with greater longevity. Mature plants persist long after a site has become unsuitable for germination. There is high mortality among young plants after severe winters.
Many of its major habitats are amenable to cultivation and almost all are grazed. Both over-grazing and under-grazing can be harmful, according to the exposure of the site, and most site losses, which continue, are due to one of these causes.
P. scotica is endemic. Its closest relative, P. scandinavica, is found in Norway and north-western Sweden.
For a more detailed discussion of the ecology and conservation of this species, see Bullard (1987).
E. R. Bullard
PLANTATT - Attributes of British and Irish plants. (.zip 1455KB) This dataset was compiled and published in 2004, and last updated in November 2008. Download includes an Excel spreadsheet of the attributes, and a PDF explaining the background and nomenclature. Note that the PDF version is the booklet as published, whereas the Excel spreadsheet incorporates subsequent corrections. A hardcopy can be purchased from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
Atlas text references
Atlas (200d)
Survival and flowering of Primula scotica Hook,
, Journal of Ecology, Volume 75, p.589-602, (1987)
Atlas of north European vascular plants north of the Tropic of Cancer. 3 vols,
, Königstein, (1986)
The effect of temperature on reproduction in five Primula species,
, Annals of Botany, Volume 82, p.359-374, (1998)
Vergleichende Chorologie der zentraleuropäischen Flora. Volume 2. 2 vols,
, Jena, (1978)
Biological Flora of the British Isles. No. 44. Primula scotica Hook,
, Journal of Ecology, Volume 42, p.623-628, (1954)
Scarce plants in Britain,
, Peterborough, (1994)
Tremayne & Richards (1997)