Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Common Toadflax
Linaria vulgaris
- Synonym: Yellow Toadflax
- Family: Figwort Family – Scrophulariaceae
- Growing form: Perennial herb.
- Height: 20–70 cm (8–28 in.). Stem erect, stout, unbranched, soft-hairy.
- Flower: Corolla bilabiate, spurred, yellow, 25–30 mm (1–1.2 in.) long. Upper lip 2-lobed. Lower lip 3-lobed, with an orange protuberance at the base. Stamens 4, one of which imperfect. Pistil of 2 fused carpels, style solitary. Inflorescence a long, many-flowered, spike-like terminal raceme.
- Leaves: Lowest ones whorled or opposite, upper ones alternate. Unstalked, linear, sharp-pointed, margins rolled under.
- Fruit: An almost globose capsule, 5–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in.) across. Seed winged, disc-like.
- Habitat: Sandy and pebbly seashores, rock outcrops, roadsides, dry waste ground, fields, lawns, field margins. Also an ornamental and an escape.
- Flowering time: July–September.
The genus Linaria is particularly diverse in Western Asia and the Mediterranean countries. Many of the species are at leas to some degree favoured by human activities.
The common toadflax is a perennial with a stout rootstock. It flowers in roadsides until late autumn. In Finland it was originally a plant of pebbly seashores. Owing to its pretty flowers it has been moved to gardens as an ornamental, and has thus started to spread inland.
