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Butter And Eggs

Butter And Eggs

Linaria vulgaris

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How common: Very common

Butter and Eggs is a tall, upright perennial with narrow blue‑green leaves and a dense top cluster of yellow, snapdragon‑like flowers. The flowers show a deeper orange patch in the middle and a long narrow spur at the back. You can spot it in open, dry places such as sandy or gravelly ground, roadsides and waste ground, and sometimes on rocky or coastal sites.

Did you know?

  • Its name comes from the yellow and orange "butter and eggs" colors of the flowers.
  • It spreads by creeping roots that send up new shoots.

About the species

Identification

Upright perennial 20–70 cm. Stems firm, often softly hairy. Leaves narrow like grass, 2–6 cm, blue‑green and crowded all around the stem. The stem tip carries a tall, many‑flowered cluster. Flowers 2.5–3.3 cm, clear yellow with a deeper orange patch on the lower lip; at the back there is a long spur (a narrow nectar tube). The mouth is usually closed. Later it makes small dry pods that split, with flat seeds edged by a thin rim. Looks like a small snapdragon, but unlike garden snapdragons it has a long spur. Creeping toadflax has pale white‑purple striped flowers. Flowers in Finland from July to September.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

yards and roadsides, shore

Flowering

Jul–Sep

About the habitat

Prefers sunny, open and often dry ground: sandy or gravelly soils, rocky places, roadsides, railways, field edges, gardens and other waste ground; also on seashores. Common in southern and central Finland; rare along the Bothnian Bay coast.

Sources

Photo: Ivar Leidus, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Linaria vulgaris - harilik käokannus Valingu.jpg

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki leviäimet, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39589

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki versot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39589

Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Itämeri: kivikkorannat, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39589

Text: Pinkka: Pieni maatalouslajintuntemus - Puuvartiset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39589

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keltakannusruoho

See also