Bird's-eye primrose is an erect forb, up to 2.5dm tall, with 1-10 flowers, 3-6mm calyx, lobed to about the middle, yellow corolla tube, the limb containing water-soluble pigments (blue, purple, or red) but generally pale, seldom white, 1-2cm wide. Its fruits are capsules 5-valved at the tip. Leaves are oblanceolate or spatulate, 2-7cm, with very small, outward-directed teeth along the margins, long-tapering to the base, smooth, but the lower side often densely covered with a white or yellow powder.
It can be distinguished from similar species by its pale blue or white petals and glabrous scape and stem, bracts of the umbrella-shaped inflorescence 3-6 mm, calyx 3-6mm.