Floral Galaxy of Japanese primrose

“Kurin-so”, Japanese primrose, or Primula Japonica,  is a wild variety of primrose which is found blooming at wet mountain sides in Japan from late spring to early summer.

They require shady places and moist soil as their native habitat is moist woodlands.

After being dormant winter, the plants germinate in spring, develop rosette of light green oval-shaped leaves and bloom flowers. The leaves disappear and the plants become dormant in summer again to be spared for hardships of heat and drought.

Japanese primrose is called “Kurin-so/九輪草” in Japanese as their tiers of flowers on the stem look like “Kurin”, a part of Pagoda’s finial. 

To me, the flowers at the top of the stem look like a miniature floral bouquet on its own.

The flowers look like candelabra holding buds as candles, too.   When buds open, millions of light surround the place.

They also look like stars of shades of pink with their five petals.  Each flower looks cheerful and smiling.  When blooming gregariously, they make a terrestrial Galaxy as the small stars do in the sky.

The photos of this post were taken yesterday at Mt. Rokko Alpine Botanical Garden (六甲高山植物園) at an altitude of 865 meters near the peak of the Rokko Mountain Ranges behind Kobe city.  It was the first time for me to see so many of them all gathered together in one place at Mt. Rokko.

 Japanese primrose at Takayama

Japanese primrose at Senjyugahara at Oku-Nikko

  Enjoy the floral tapestry.