PHOTOGRAPHY & WRITING
Bird’s-Eye Primrose
Primula mistassinica
Of all the signs of spring on Lake Superior’s shores, it’s mainly the bird’s-eye primrose that I return to see. Also known as a dwarf Canadian or Mistassini primrose, the tiny bird’s-eye is a low and subarctic plant that also inhabits lakeshores and rock outcrops in the vast boreal forests of Canada.1 Its lavender flowers begin to dapple rock crevices, tussocks of tufted bulrush, and areas of seepage in light veils of lavender already in mid May. Sometimes appearing by the dozens, occasionally by the hundreds, even at the height of bloom, they can be easy to miss.
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The bird's-eye primrose bears its flowers in a small umbel at the top of a leafless stem with an upright rosette at its base. To shelter its reproductive parts from cold and wind, it rarely grows taller than five or six inches. Many of the flowering plants I see stand only two to three inches and some barely measure an inch. The scented flowers last up to ten days and, despite nearly hugging the ground, quiver ceaselessly in the cold wind.2 Trembling and expectant, they look both valiant and forlorn.
