Hybridises with : Primrose to produce False Oxlip. In addition Cowslip hybridises with Oxlip, but these are the rarer of the two hybrids, growing only where both grow together; namely only in Eastern England.

Lookee-Likees : Oxlip and False Oxlip.

Confusable with: Polyanthus: a garden variety with much larger flowers with a pinkish or purplish hue.

Distinguishing Feature:

No familial relation to : Anything else with 'cow' in the name.

Cowslip, unlike Oxlip, has a tendency to spread and carpet grassland with a swathe. Standing less that a foot in height, it prefers to grow in alkaline soils such as limestone or chalk. The flowers are a deep yellow, orange near the base; being numerous at the top of a single leafless and downy stem, most drooping downwards and (unlike Oxlip) preferring to droop to one side or other of the stem. The leaves are Primrose-like: crinkly and forming a basal rosette, but smaller. The leaves become abruptly narrower near the base, forming a wing.

The flowers are fragrant.

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