Melampyrum Pratense, Common Cow-Wheat



Common name:
Common cow-wheat
Scientific name:
Melampyrum pratense
Main flower color:
Range:
All of the UK, though often only locally common
Height:
Up to 40 cm
Habitat:
Pine and birch woodland, heaths, moorland
Flowers:
Produced in pairs from the leaf nodes, subtended by narrow bracts. Flowers have a pale yellow corolla, up to 17 mm long, ridged along the top and flattened underneath, opening only slightly at the tip, to two small lobes, the upper fringed with tiny yellow hairs. The narrow-toothed calyx is much shorter than the corolla
Leaves:
Opposite, hairless, stalkless, linear to narrowly ovate, up to 8 cm long and 1.5 cm wide
Season:
May to September
Rarity:
★★★★★