Scientific name: Euphrasia pseudokerneri Pugsley
Common name: Eyebright
Description
Habit: A small hemiparasitic annual, to 30 cm high.
Stems: Erect at least at the top, with 3-8 pairs of branches, sometimes again branched.
Leaves: Stalkless, toothed and without stipules; upper leaves alternate and larger, lower leaves opposite and bluntly toothed.
Flowers: Usually white (sometimes lilac) lower lip with a patch of yellow, and white or lilac upper lip, zygomorphic, hermaphrodite, stalkless in axils of upper leaves often forming a loose and terminal spike, lowest flower at node 10-16; calyx of 4 sepals fused, with 4 undivided and finely pointed lobes; corolla of 4 petals fused into 2-lips, 7-11 mm, across, with a slender corolla tube, upper lip 2-lobed, lower lip wide and deeply 3-lobed with notched lobes; stamens 4, borne on corolla tube; ovary superior, 2-celled, style 1.
Fruits: A capsule with many seeds, twice as long as broad, much shorter than the calyx, with long fine hairs.
Euphrasia is a difficult group, the species boundaries complicated by hybridisation. Several plants are necessary for identification.
Habitat: Grassland overlying limestone pavement.Distribution: Locally frequent in the W. Burren, not recorded elsewhere.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: Yes