Cowslip

a beautiful flowering plant of Europe. It belongs to the primula family. A number of scapes, a hand's breadth or more in height, spring from a rosette of soft, oval leaves. Each bears a one-sided umbel of fragrant yellow flowers. As is the case with the robin, American settlers have brought the name to America. It has been given to plants that have no relationship to the English cowslip. Among the flowers, falsely called cowslips, are the marsh marigold of early spring and the Virginian lungwort or bluebell. The shooting star, with its blue pendulous flowers and recurved petals, is related to the cowslip of Europe. It may be called the American cowslip. See Cyclamen; Primrose