The green parts of this plant’s stems are covered densely with amazing little red hairs, each hair having a bulbous base. It is a tall, graceful and quite striking biennial plant which grows in quarries, on roadsides and on sandy soil. It can reach 180 cm high, bearing stunning yellow 4-petalled flowers (6-8 cm across) in erect clusters from June to September. The style is longer than the filaments and the sepals are red-striped, narrow and twisted into a yellowish point. As the flower fades, the sepals fall back. The elliptic, wavy-edged leaves are often twisted. This is not a native plant and it belongs to the Onagraceae family.
I first recorded and photographed this plant at Wellingtonbridge, County Wexford in 2011.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
