Scottish Primrose

The bright purple Primula Scotica or Scottish Primrose is found only in Northern Scotland and exists nowhere else in the world. It can be found on the north coast of Scotland between Cape Wrath in Sutherland and Dunbeath in Caithness and on the larger of the Orkney islands. This beautiful plant is very sensitive to environmental factors and can only live on four types of habitat: grassland, maritime heath, coastal limestone and calcareous sand dunes. It thrives on mild winters but interestingly global warming is one of the main threats to this plant. The reason is because latitudes above fifty degrees north have consistently been getting colder since the 1950’s, with stronger winds and storms. Light grazing benefits Scottish Primrose and areas in which rabbit populations have been reduced the plant disappeared or declined. Heavy grazing by sheep however also leads to declined populations. On the island of Hoy in Orkney the Scottish Wildlife Trust has a conservation project that is lightly grazing Shetland sheep on areas of land that have Scottish Primrose. On one of these sites the population has doubled. Scottish Primrose is part of Scotland’s natural heritage and it would a terrible loss if this unique plant were to become extinct.

Bibliography:
Lusby, Philip and Wright, Jenny. Scottish Wild Plants: Their History, Ecology and Conservation. Mercat Press, 2001.