3b71c027_lds____Gardens___Cotswold_Life__5
[0] Cowslip [1] April to May. [2] The cowslip is a well-known spring flowering plant, which was once far more common than it is today. Low growing, its crinkley green leaves form a rosette of leaves with both sides covered with fine downy hair. The characteristic funnel-shaped, yellow flowers are in clusters of 10-30 together on a single stem 5-20 cm tall. Red-flowered plants do occur [3] Found in well-drained, herb-rich grasslands. Can occur in scrub or woodland edges or rides, seasonally flooded areas and calcareous cliffs. Having suffered a sharp decline between 1930 & 1980, the cowslip is now fairly widespread in the UK, accept in Scotland. [4] Cowslips belong to the Primrose family, its name deriving from "cowpat", (Old English "cuslyppe"), from where they would spring up when they were common in the wild. Cowslips are a favourite food of wild rabbits and a food plant of the Duke of Burgundy Fritillary butterfly, Plain Clary and Northern Rustic moths. [6] If planting Cowslips in a meadow, don't cut the grass until after the plant has set its seed in late July. A number of churchyards are now being sensitively managed for wildlife, allowing a resurgence of this well-loved and cheering spring flower. [5] 
The decline in cowslips was caused by the use of herbicides and the ploughing of grasslands. Herbicides were also used on waysides until the 1980s. The species has increased in recent years as cowslips have been planted on road verges, and wildflower seed mixtures often contain the seeds of cowslip. Cowslips have also returned to areas where grazing has been greatly reduced,
Springtime Flowers in the Cotswolds. - Gardens - Cotswold Life
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