True Or False Oxlip

True Or False Oxlip?

 

This Oxlip is growing in my meadow but is it a True or False Oxlip? I had no idea there were different varieties

True Oxlips, Primula elatio, are only found in East Anglia and flower at this time of year in damp open woodland, they love to grow in cow dung

The True Oxlip is a nationally scarce species and is classified as near threatened in Britain

It is rarely found outside of the counties of Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Essex

 

False Oxlips, Primula veris x vulgaris, are much more common and are a hybrid of Primroses and Cowslips. False Oxlips grow to the same height as Oxlips, about 30 cm tall, but their flowers do not grow one sided like the Oxlip

Both are early flowering plants so provide vital nectar for early emerging Bees and Butterflies which will in turn pollinate the plants

The Oxlip in my garden must be a False Oxlip due to its geographical location and it seems to have flowers on all sides of the stem