Most attractive perennial of meadows, arable lands and old walls, this stately plant stands 80cm high, bearing wonderful yellow flowers from July to October. The flowers (15-30mm long) – somewhat like small snapdragons – have an orange blush on their lower 3-lobed lips, their upper lip is 2-lobed and their corolla tubes have long slender spurs. The plant is totally hairless and bears narrow, linear, grey-green leaves which are whorled below, and numerous along the stems. This plant was very probably introduced into Ireland and it belongs to the Plantaginaceae family.
My earliest record of this plant was at Burrin, Co Clare in 1980 and I photographed it near Tullycanna, Co Wexford in 2006.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
