The species is native throughout most of temperate Europe and western Asia,[1] and although absent from more northerly areas including much of northwest Scotland, it reappears in northernmost Sutherland and Orkney and in Scandinavia.

Red- and orange-flowered plants occur rarely but can be locally widespread in areas where coloured primula hybrids bloom at the same time as the native cowslip, enabling cross-pollination.

[17] In the crude dried root, their phenolic aglycones are responsible for the typical odour reminiscent of methyl salicylate or anethole.

[18] Rare side effects of the saponins can be nausea or diarrhoea while some of the phenolic constituents are possibly responsible for allergic reactions.

[19][20] The subspecies macrocalyx, growing in Siberia, contains the phenolic compound riccardin C.[21] Cowslip leaves have been traditionally used in Spanish cooking as a salad green.

Uses in English cookery include using the flowers to flavor country wine[22] and vinegars; sugaring to be a sweet or eaten as part of a composed salad while the juice of the cowslip is used to prepare tansy for frying.

English children's writer Alison Uttley in her story "The Country Child" (1931) of family life on an English farm from the perspective of a 9-year-old farmer's daughter Susan describes cowslips among the favourite flowers of her heroine and mentions her participation in preparing them for making cowslip wine, a locally important process.

Species from the genus Primula along with other ritual plants played a significant role in the pharmacy and mythology of the Celtic druids, likely as an ingredient of magical potions to increase the absorption of other herbal constituents.