Linaria vulgaris

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Linaria vulgaris
Linaria vulgaris flowers - Keila.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Plantaginaceae
Genus: Linaria
Species:
L. vulgaris
Binomial name
Linaria vulgaris
Linaria vulgaris.jpg

Linaria vulgaris, the common toadflax, [1] [2] yellow toadflax or butter-and-eggs, [3] is a species of flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae, native to Europe, Siberia and Central Asia. [4] It has also been introduced and is now common in North America. [3]

Contents

Growth

It is a perennial plant with short spreading roots, erect to decumbent stems 15–90 cm (6–35 in) high, with fine, threadlike, glaucous blue-green leaves 2–6 cm (3⁄4–2+1⁄4 in) long and 1–5 mm (0.04–0.20 in) broad. The flowers are similar to those of the snapdragon, 25–33 mm (0.98–1.30 in) long, pale yellow except for the lower tip which is orange, borne in dense terminal racemes from mid summer to mid autumn. The flowers are mostly visited by bumblebees. [5] The fruit is a globose capsule 5–11 mm (0.20–0.43 in) long and 5–7 mm (0.20–0.28 in) broad, containing numerous small seeds. [2]

Ecology

Pollination by garden bumblebee Bombus hortorum - Linaria vulgaris - Valingu.jpg
Pollination by garden bumblebee

The plant is widespread on ruderal spots, along roads, in dunes, and on disturbed and cultivated land. [2]

Because the flower is largely closed by its underlip, pollination requires strong insects such as bees and bumblebees (Bombus species). [2]

Linaria vulgaris is a food plant for a large number of insects such as the sweet gale moth (Acronicta euphorbiae), mouse moth (Amphipyra tragopoginis), silver Y (Autographa gamma), Calophasia lunula , gorgone checkerspot (Charidryas gorgone carlota), toadflax pug (Eupithecia linariata), satyr pug (Eupithecia satyrata), Falseuncaria ruficiliana , bog fritillary (Boloria eunomia), Pyrrhia umbra , brown rustic (Rusina ferruginea), and Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla .

It may be mildly toxic to livestock. [6]

Fossil record

Seeds of the common toadflax, were identified from the Hoxnian interglacial strata at Clacton. Records have also come from the Weichselian glaciation strata in Essex, Huntingdonshire, Surrey and North Wales. This evidence makes the native status of the plant in Britain quite evident despite the very strong association that it has today with waste places and man-made habitats. [7]

Cultivation and uses

While most commonly found as a wildflower, toadflax is sometimes cultivated for cut flowers, which are long-lasting in the vase. Like snapdragons ( Antirrhinum ), they are often grown in children's gardens for the "snapping" flowers which can be made to "talk" by squeezing them at the base of the corolla. [8]

The plant requires ample drainage, but is otherwise adaptable to a variety of conditions. It has escaped from cultivation in North America where it is common on roadsides and in poor soils, where it has now naturalized in many U.S. states and Canadian provinces. [9]

Despite its reputation as a weed, like the dandelion, this plant has also been used in folk medicine for a variety of ailments. A tea made from the leaves was taken as a laxative and strong diuretic as well as for jaundice, dropsy, and enteritis with drowsiness.[ citation needed ] For skin diseases and piles, either a leaf tea or an ointment made from the flowers was used.[ citation needed ] In addition, a tea made in milk instead of water has been used as an insecticide. It is confirmed to have diuretic and fever-reducing properties. [10] [11]

Other names

Linaria acutilobaFisch. ex Rchb. is a synonym. [12] Because this plant grows as a weed, it has acquired a large number of local colloquial names, including brideweed, bridewort, butter and eggs (but see Lotus corniculatus ), butter haycocks, bread and butter, bunny haycocks, bunny mouths, calf's snout, Continental weed, dead men's bones, devil's flax, devil's flower, doggies, dragon bushes, eggs and bacon (but see Lotus corniculatus ), eggs and butter, false flax, flaxweed, fluellen (but see Kickxia ), gallweed, gallwort, impudent lawyer, Jacob's ladder (but see Polemonium ), lion's mouth, monkey flower (but see Mimulus ), North American ramsted, rabbit flower, rancid, ransted, snapdragon (but see Antirrhinum ), wild flax, wild snapdragon, wild tobacco (but see Nicotiana ), yellow rod, yellow toadflax. [8]

Related Research Articles

<i>Antirrhinum</i> Genus of plants

Antirrhinum is a genus of plants commonly known as dragon flowers or snapdragons because of the flowers' fancied resemblance to the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed. They are also sometimes called toadflax or dog flower. They are native to rocky areas of Europe, the United States, Canada, and North Africa. Antirrhinum species are widely used as ornamental plants in borders and as cut flowers.

<i>Artemisia vulgaris</i> Medicinal herb known as common mugwort

Artemisia vulgaris, the common mugwort, is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. It is one of several species in the genus Artemisia commonly known as mugwort, although Artemisia vulgaris is the species most often called mugwort. It is also occasionally known as riverside wormwood, felon herb, chrysanthemum weed, wild wormwood, old Uncle Henry, sailor's tobacco, naughty man, old man, or St. John's plant. Mugworts have been used medicinally and as culinary herbs.

<i>Linaria</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae

Linaria is a genus of almost 200 species of flowering plants, one of several related groups commonly called toadflax. They are annuals and herbaceous perennials, and the largest genus in the Antirrhineae tribe of the plantain family Plantaginaceae.

<i>Berberis</i> Genus of flowering plants representing the barberry family

Berberis, commonly known as barberry, is a large genus of deciduous and evergreen shrubs from 1–5 m (3.3–16.4 ft) tall, found throughout temperate and subtropical regions of the world. Species diversity is greatest in South America and Asia; Europe, Africa and North America have native species as well. The best-known Berberis species is the European barberry, Berberis vulgaris, which is common in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and central Asia, and has been widely introduced in North America. Many of the species have spines on the shoots and all along the margins of the leaves.

<i>Lotus corniculatus</i> Species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae

Lotus corniculatus is a flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae, native to grasslands in temperate Eurasia and North Africa. Common names include common bird's-foot trefoil, eggs and bacon, birdsfoot deervetch, and just bird's-foot trefoil, though the latter name is often also applied to other members of the genus.

<i>Primula vulgaris</i> Species of flowering plant

Primula vulgaris, the common primrose, is a species of flowering plant in the family Primulaceae, native to Eurasia. The common name is primrose, or occasionally common primrose or English primrose to distinguish it from other Primula species referred to as primroses.

<i>Antirrhinum majus</i> Species of flowering plant

Antirrhinum majus, the common snapdragon, is a species of flowering plant belonging to the genus Antirrhinum. The plant was placed in the family Plantaginaceae following a revision of its prior classical family, Scrophulariaceae.

<i>Misopates orontium</i> Species of flowering plant

Misopates orontium, known as weasel's snout, is a herbaceous annual plant in the family Plantaginaceae. It is a native of disturbed ground in Europe. It is also naturalised as a weed in other parts of the world such as North America. The pink flowers resemble a miniature snapdragon and are followed by a hairy green fruit which is said to resemble a weasel's snout.

<i>Nuttallanthus canadensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Nuttallanthus canadensis, the blue toadflax, Canada toadflax, or old-field toadflax, is a species of Nuttallanthus in the family Plantaginaceae, native to eastern North America from Ontario east to Nova Scotia and south to Texas and Florida.

<i>Cymbalaria muralis</i> Southern European species of toadflax

Cymbalaria muralis, commonly called ivy-leaved toadflax or Kenilworth ivy, is a low, spreading, viney plant with small purple flowers, native to southern Europe. It belongs to the plantain family (Plantaginaceae), and is introduced to many other temperate locations. The flower stalk is unusual for seeking light until it is fertilized, after which it grows away from the light. Other names include coliseum ivy, Oxford ivy, mother of thousands, and wandering sailor.

<i>Calophasia lunula</i> Species of moth

Calophasia lunula is a Palearctic species of noctuid moth known by the common names toadflax moth and toadflax brocade moth.

<i>Antigastra catalaunalis</i> Species of moth

Antigastra catalaunalis is a species of moth of the family Crambidae. The species was first described by Philogène Auguste Joseph Duponchel in 1833. It is endemic to tropical and subtropical areas, but is also found in other areas due to its migratory nature.

<i>Linaria dalmatica</i> Species of flowering plant

Linaria dalmatica is a herbaceous, short-lived perennial plant native to western Asia and southeastern Europe that has become a weed in other areas. The family this plant now belongs to is the Plantaginaceae Family. Previously, it belonged to the Scrophulariaceae (Figwort) family. Its common names include Balkan toadflax, broadleaf toadflax, and Dalmatian toadflax. Linaria dalmatica has unique yellow flowers with an orange center that draw individuals to purchase them to display in their gardens. The distribution of L. dalmatica to North America can be attributed to use as a fabric dye, folk remedies and as an ornamental plant. However, it is now classified as a weed in both Canada and the U.S.A.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antirrhineae</span> Tribe of flowering plants

The Antirrhineae are one of the 12 tribes of the family Plantaginaceae. It contains the toadflax relatives, such as snapdragons.

<i>Linaria repens</i> Species of flowering plant

Linaria repens, also known as pale toadflax or creeping toadflax in Europe and as striped toadflax in the US, is an herbaceous plant in the family Plantaginaceae, native to Europe.

<i>Chaenorhinum minus</i> Species of flowering plant

Chaenorhinum minus, also known as small toadflax in Europe and dwarf snapdragon in the US and Canada, is a very diminutive member of the plant family Plantaginaceae. It is native to continental Europe.

<i>Antirrhinum hispanicum</i> Species of flowering plant

Antirrhinum hispanicum, the Spanish snapdragon, is a species of flowering plant belonging to the genus Antirrhinum that is native to southeastern Spain.


Rhinusa pilosa is a species of true weevil in the family of beetles known as Curculionidae. It is found exclusively on Linaria vulgaris Mill. (Plantaginaceae), also known as common or yellow toadflax where it creates a gall on the plant's stem, and was found originally in Serbia. R. pilosa has been introduced in the United States and Canada as an biocontrol agent to control L. vulgaris.

<i>Linaria arenaria</i> Species of flowering plant

Linaria arenaria, sometimes called sand toadflax or French toadflax, is a yellow-flowered member of the genus Linaria. It is found in sand-dunes and sandy grassland in western France, north-west Spain and Portugal and is thus a psammophyte plant. It is found casually in England and reliably at two sites. One is Braunton Burrows in north Devon where it was planted around 1893 and continues to grow, and the other, since 2004, is in north Somerset.

References

  1. ↑ Natural History Museum: Linaria vulgaris
  2. 1 2 3 4 Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. ISBN   0-340-40170-2
  3. 1 2 Dickinson, T.; Metsger, D.; Bull, J.; Dickinson, R. (2004). The ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum. p. 367. ISBN   0771076525. OCLC   54691765.
  4. ↑ "Linaria vulgaris". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 2020-03-05.
  5. ↑ Van Der Kooi, C. J.; Pen, I.; Staal, M.; Stavenga, D. G.; Elzenga, J. T. M. (2015). "Competition for pollinators and intra-communal spectral dissimilarity of flowers". Plant Biology. 18 (1): 56–62. doi:10.1111/plb.12328. PMID   25754608.
  6. ↑ Common Weeds of the United States. New York: Dover. 1971. p.  328. ISBN   0-486-20504-5.
  7. ↑ Godwin, Harry (1975). The History of the British Flora, A Factual Basis for Phytogeography. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   0-521-20254-X.
  8. 1 2 Mabey, R. (1996). Flora Britannica. Sinclair-Stevenson. ISBN   1-85619-377-2.
  9. ↑ Britton, Nathaniel Lord; Brown, Addison (1970) [first published 1913]. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada. Vol. 3. Dover Publications. p. 177. ISBN   0-486-22642-5.
  10. ↑ Foster, Steven; Duke, James A. (2000). A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs: Of Eastern and Central North America (Peterson Field Guides). Houghton Mifflin. p.  120. ISBN   0-395-98814-4.
  11. ↑ Pandya, Preeti N.; Aghera, Hetal B.; Ashok, B. K.; Acharya, Rabinarayan (2012). "Diuretic activity of Linaria ramosissima (wall.) Janch. leaves in albino rats". AYU. 33 (4): 576–578. doi: 10.4103/0974-8520.110517 . ISSN   0974-8520. PMC   3665199 . PMID   23723679.
  12. ↑ "Linaria vulgaris". Flora Europaea.
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