Their habitats hardly ever overlap; P. florindae prefers wetter soils close to rivers, giving way to P. alpicola on drier sites.

It was first collected for western horticulture in 1926 by Frank Kingdon-Ward, and was described as a variety of Primula microdonta by William Wright Smith, but later raised to a distinct species by Otto Stapf.

The flowers can be in several colours, white, cream, yellow and shades of purple.

This plant is hardy in most of the UK and is available from specialist and larger garden centres.

It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.