Greek aner—man, sakos—buckler, referring to the similarity of the anther to the old buckler.
Annual, biennial and perennial mostly tufted herbs often cushion-like. Leaves simple, mostly basal. Flowers solitary, tube shorter than sepals, constricted and with scales inside at the throat, the style enclosed within the tube. Fruit a capsule splitting almost to the base.
Cortusa is occasionally grown as C. matthioli L. which has rosy purple nodding flowers, deeply dissected leaves and fruit capsules with 5 valves.
Seed, sometimes by separation of basal rosettes.
Differs from Primula in having a flower tube that is shorter than the sepals, also constricted at the throat and closed with a ring of scales.
Approximately 100 species mostly from dry regions of the temperate northern hemisphere.
Smith & Lowe (1977).
Source: (1997). Primulaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
