OBJECTIVE Microsatellite primers were developed for Primula ovalifolia, a member of Primula section Petiolares (Primulaceae), to study the population genetics and species delimitation in this section. RESULTS A total of 4753 markers were successfully designated from 5139 putative simple sequence repeat loci. We isolated 38 expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeat markers from 220 selected marker sites and tested polymorphism in three populations of P. ovalifolia, one of P. tardiflora, and one of P. epilosa. The number of alleles per locus ranged from one to 19, and the observed and expected levels of heterozygosity varied from 0 to 0.938 and 0 to 0.915, respectively. Most of the loci could be successfully cross-amplified in the two congeneric species. CONCLUSIONS These markers will be useful for further population genetic analysis and gene flow estimation of P. ovalifolia and its relatives.