A pretty Japanese primrose named for Dr Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (1796–1866), a German physician/botanist/zoologist, who worked in Japan and introduced many new plants to Europe. His daughter Oine (1827–1903) was the first practising female physician in Japan. Siebold studied medicine at the University of Würzburg, where he qualifi ed in 1820. He became a physician to the Dutch army in 1822 and sailed as the ship’s doctor to Indonesia in 1823, from where he was sent to Dejima, Japan, where he continued as a doctor to the Dutch military. Dejima had a botanic garden and the botanists Engelbert Kaempfer and Carl Thunberg had both been resident physicians there. Siebold was an adventurer, hugely knowledgeable in the sciences of his time, and passionate about Japanese culture. He founded a school nearby at Narutaki, Nagasaki, and attracted many Japanese students both medical and botanical. He collected over 1,000 native plants for his garden, sent home Hosta and Hydrangea, and smuggled seeds of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, to Java. He co-authored Flora Japonica (1835), Bibliotheca Japonica (1833–4) and Nippon (1832–52). He was expelled, accused of spying, in 1829 and returned to Indonesia with his collections and thence to Brussels. He settled in Leiden with his herbarium of 12,000 Japanese plants, writing his books, was rewarded and honoured by the Dutch government, and his advice on Japanese matters was sought internationally. He returned to Japan from 1859–63 as a Dutch government adviser (Hind and Kay, 2006). His impact on Dutch horticulture was, and is, immeasurable.

Primula sieboldii is a herbaceous perennial in the family Primulaceae that is distributed from eastern Siberia to Japan. The cultivars, ‘Long Acre’ hybrids in mixed colours and forms, grow happily in a lightly shaded border in damp, humus-rich soil amongst woodland plants. Lots of well-rotted organic matter was incorporated on planting. In spring, small spikes of star-shaped flowers appear above lush green foliage. They are mulched annually with bark chips and cut down in spring to remove old, untidy leaves and make way for new foliage. In dry spells they become dormant. (CB)

It is a pretty Japanese primrose named for Dr Phillip von Siebold (1796-1866), a German physician/botanist/zoologist who worked in Japan and introduced many new plants to Europe.

Primula sieboldii (Long Acre Hybrids), name not listed by the RHS.

Primula sieboldii has no medicinal value or uses, but is a popular garden plant introduced by von Siebold from Japan, where it had long been in cultivation.