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Primula rosea; photograph Name, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF CC BYName, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF

Primula rosea Royle

Primulaceae · Afghanistan, Pakistan +1

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Primula rosea, photograph Name, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFPrimula rosea, photograph Martina Plech, CC BY-SA, via GBIFPrimula rosea, photograph Salvör Gissurardóttir, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsPrimula rosea, photograph J.M.Garg, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPrimula rosea, photograph Ghislain118 (AD) http://www.fleurs-des-montagnes.net, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPrimula rosea, photograph Schnobby, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 15 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Coldest month, mean nightly low
-16.3°C
Jan at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (the weather cell's ground is too far off) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
17°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,904mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
19–47DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes February to April and June to September, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Primula rosea, the rosy primrose, is a flowering plant species in the genus Primula, native to the Himalayas. Growing to 50 cm (20 in) tall, it is a hardy herbaceous perennial with red-tinged leaves and clumps of rich pink flowers in spring.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Primula rosea", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Primula

Primula is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. They include the primrose, a familiar wildflower of banks and verges. Other common species are P. auricula (auricula), P. veris (cowslip), and P. elatior (oxlip). More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Primula", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,420 mm of 1,908 mm) falls in February to April and June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 5.1 °C against a yearly mean of 1.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March and August to October.

Rain

1,908 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,420 mm of it February to April and June to September. Wettest month July at 276 mm, driest month November at 48 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,371 mm to 2,555 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,904 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,908 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 47 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 16, the highest 90th-percentile month 51).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -16.3 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -18.7 °C to -10.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 16.5 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is -16.3 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, January, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell whose ground is too far above or below the typical spot to correct for, and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 48 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Primula rosea through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 17 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -16.3 °C; 1,908 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°frost°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 19–47RH 48–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 13 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-6 / -12–1-5 / -10–20 / -6–64 / -1–1010 / 5–1516 / 10–1917 / 13–1916 / 13–1914 / 9–177 / 2–132 / -5–8-3 / -10–4
Night °C-16 / -19–-11-15 / -17–-9-11 / -14–-5-7 / -10–-2-2 / -6–34 / -2–78 / 4–117 / 4–113 / -1–6-6 / -10–-1-11 / -16–-5-14 / -18–-9
Rain mm141 / 97–178170 / 119–241216 / 163–298178 / 121–250144 / 127–189166 / 83–199276 / 106–500238 / 102–418176 / 65–24171 / 55–10148 / 32–7084 / 68–121
DLI21 / 18–2726 / 23–3235 / 31–4043 / 40–4847 / 45–5146 / 43–5037 / 31–4334 / 30–3934 / 32–3731 / 28–3524 / 21–2819 / 16–24
RH %53 / 49–6055 / 51–6156 / 52–6155 / 52–6054 / 52–6059 / 56–6366 / 59–7067 / 60–7162 / 54–6453 / 50–5848 / 46–5550 / 45–57

The daily extremes were not used: the correction for elevation, +1106 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's. So no cold floor is read for this species, and the coldest month's mean nightly low is not taken as one. What that cell gave, so corrected, over 44 years: absolute minimum -21.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -15.4 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 13 grid cells holding the 13 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1155:5142 (32.225, 77.125). Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 13 distinct grid cells holding 13 of the 13 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1155:5142 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 32.00_76.875, lapse-corrected +1106 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 3388 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAfghanistan, Pakistan, West Himalaya · introduced: Czechoslovakia · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker34.048, 74.38 · in the densest population, 19 records (47% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “subalpine or subarctic” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 40 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 13 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 3 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 353 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. 27 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 40 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Primula rosea, photograph 1did not loadPrimula rosea, photograph 2did not loadPrimula rosea, photograph 3did not loadPrimula rosea, photograph 4did not loadPrimula rosea, photograph 5did not loadPrimula rosea, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Name, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; Martina Plech, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; Salvör Gissurardóttir, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; J.M.Garg, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Ghislain118 (AD) http://www.fleurs-des-montagnes.net, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Schnobby, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Allium humile Amaryllidaceae Filipendula vestita Filipendula vestita Rosaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Dinesh ValkeThalictrum cultratum Thalictrum cultratum Ranunculaceae Photo: CC BY, Siddarth MachadoAcanthophyllum cerastioides Acanthophyllum cerastioides Caryophyllaceae Photo: CC BY, Morten RossGeum elatum Geum elatum Rosaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedSwertia speciosa Swertia speciosa Gentianaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Michael Wolf

Other Primula 204 in the reference

Primula albenensis Primulaceae Primula algida Primula algida Primulaceae Photo: CC BY, Юлия ЗахаренкоPrimula allionii Primula allionii Primulaceae Photo: CC BY, Flavien SaboureauPrimula alpicola Primula alpicola Moonlight primrose Photo: CC BY-SA, peganumPrimula amethystina Primula amethystina Primulaceae Photo: CC BY, Morten RossPrimula amoena Primula amoena Caucasian primrose Photo: CC BY, Екатерина КравцоваPrimula angustifolia Primula angustifolia Alpine primrose Photo: CC BY, Aiva NoringsethPrimula anisodora Primula anisodora Anise primrose Photo: CC BY-SA, Stan ShebsPrimula apennina Primula apennina Primulaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedPrimula aurantiaca Primula aurantiaca Primulaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, SalicynaPrimula aureata Primula aureata Primulaceae Photo: CC BY, desertnaturalistPrimula auricula Primula auricula Auricula Photo: CC BY, Jonas Sielenkämper all 205 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Aleuritia rosea; Primula elegans; Primula rosea subsp. elegans; Primula rosea var. elegans. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipedia

The record

Family
Primulaceae
Described by
Royle
Native to
Afghanistan, Pakistan, West Himalaya
Wild records
40 in range · 3 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 32.00_76.875, lapse-corrected +1106 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: the correction for elevation, +1106 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's, so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by its label; its IPNI identifier 702529-1 is Kew's for Primula rosea Royle
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 5 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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