''Primula lutea'' is a species of primrose that grows on basic rocks in the mountain ranges of southeastern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, including the southern and eastern

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

, southern

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The ...

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...

, and the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

. The leaves are

obovate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

and stalkless, with a cartilaginous edge, all growing in a basal rosette. The yellow flowers grow in clusters on 5–20 cm long stalks. In the past it was considered

synonymous A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

with the very similar ''

Primula auricula ''Primula auricula'', often known as auricula, mountain cowslip or bear's ear (from the shape of its leaves), is a species of flowering plant in the family Primulaceae, that grows on basic rocks in the mountain ranges of central Europe, including ...

'', but a recent study split this species off from ''P. auricula'', with the latter being found in the more northerly areas (western Alps, Jura, Vosges, Black Forest and Tatra mountains).

References

* Zhang, L-B., & J. W. Kadereit (2004): Classification of ''Primula'' sect. ''Auricula'' (Primulaceae) based on two molecular data sets (ITS, AFLPs), morphology and geographical distribution. ''Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society'' 146: 1–26. * Zhang, L-B. & J. W. Kadereit (2005): Typification and synonymization in ''Primula'' sect. ''Auricula'' (Primulaceae). ''Taxon'' 54 (3): 775–788. lutea Alpine flora {{Primulaceae-stub