Primula bulleyana (Bulley's primula)

Native to China (northwest Yunnan and southern Sichuan) where it grows in marshy alpine meadows and on the banks of streams.

In his journal of 1906, George Forrest noted, regarding the damp mountain meadows of the Li-chiang Snow Range in western China, "Where marshy openings occurred, the turf was gaudy with the blooms of a multitude of herbaceous plants, [and] I saw miles, really, of Primula Bulleyana [sic] ..."

Primula bulleyana has an erect flowering stem measuring up to 70 cm and bears 5-7 whorls of flowers at intervals up the stem. The flowers are red when in bud, becoming a rich golden yellow-orange on opening in early summer. The leaves are green, ovate-lanceolate, rounded at the apex and tapering at the base. The fruit is a capsule with numerous dark seeds.

Watercolour illustration of Primula bulleyana by Lilian Snelling (1924), taken from Curtis's Botanical Magazine (Image: RBG Kew)

Curtis’s Botanical Magazine (Editor: Martyn Rix) provides an international forum of particular interest to botanists and horticulturists, plant ecologists and those with a special interest in botanical illustration.

Now well over two hundred years old, the Magazine is the longest running botanical periodical featuring colour illustrations of plants. Each four-part volume contains 24 plant portraits reproduced from watercolour originals by leading international botanical artists. Detailed but accessible articles combine horticultural and botanical information, history, conservation and economic uses of the plants described.

Published for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew by Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
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Samples of Primula bulleyana seeds have been stored in Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank as an ex situ conservation measure.

Primula bulleyana is a popular ornamental. It is a robust primula, suitable for growing in wet ground and by streams.

Kew's Millennium Seed Bank Partnership aims to save plant life world wide, focusing on plants under threat and those of most use in the future. Seeds are dried, packaged and stored at a sub-zero temperature in our seed bank vault. 

Number of collections stored in the Millennium Seed Bank: One.
Seed storage behaviour: Orthodox (the seeds of this plant survive being dried without significantly reducing their viability, and are therefore amenable to long-term frozen storage such as at the MSB).
Germination testing: 100 % germination was achieved on a germination medium of 1% agar, at a temperature of 21°C, and a cycle of 12 hours daylight/12 hours darkness.

Primula bulleyana does well in boggy, peaty soil and on the banks of ponds and streams, providing a splash of colour from June to July. It is easily grown from seed (and often self-seeds freely) and is usually very tolerant of low temperatures. Many of the candelabra species cross freely, giving flower colours of many hues and look very attractive when planted in large drifts.

Primula bulleyana can be seen in the Duke’s Garden, around the Waterlily Pond and in the Rock Garden at Kew, and in the Water Garden at Wakehurst Place.

In 2011, Kew partnered with The Times to produce a show garden to showcase the significance of plants to science and society.

The garden, designed by Chelsea gold medallist Marcus Barnett, featured species chosen to demonstrate both beauty and utility, including medicinal, commercial, and industrial uses to underline the fact that plants are invaluable to our everyday lives – without them, none of us could live on this planet; they produce our food, clothing and the air that we breathe.

Primula bulleyana was one of the species that featured in the garden, which was awarded a Silver Medal.

- Find out more about the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show

- Browse some of the other plants that featured in the garden

Search Kew’s science databases for more information on Primula bulleyana

Curtis’s Botanical Magazine (Wiley-Blackwell)