bird's-eye primrose

noun

1. a hardy primrose, Primula farinosa, of alpine regions of Europe and Asia, having small, lilac-colored flowers with yellow throat and eye.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bird's-eye primrose¹

First recorded in 1810–20

Example Sentences

Also among Kew's trove of discoveries this year are a giant canopy tree in Cameroon that measures nearly 135 feet tall, a new orchid from Vietnam, a wild aubergine from East Africa, and two long-lost British fungi that were thought to be extinct, the bird's-eye primrose smut and the moon carrot rust.

From Time

The English Primrose is one of a large family of more than fifty species, represented in England by the Primrose, the Oxlip, the Cowslip, and the Bird's-eye Primrose of the North of England and Scotland.

From Project Gutenberg

One other British Primrose, the Bird's-eye Primrose, almost defies garden cultivation, though in its native habitats in the north it grows in most ungenial places.

From Project Gutenberg