Scientific name: Euphrasia rostkoviana Hayne
Common name: Eyebright
Description
Habit: A small hemiparasitic annual, up to 35 cm.
Stems: Erect, stout, stiff, with 0-5 pairs of branches arising from the base, often again branched.
Leaves: Stalkless, toothed and without stipules; upper leaves alternate, lower leaves opposite.
Flowers: White lower and purple upper lip and with yellow patch on the lower lip of corolla, zygomorphic, hermaphrodite; stalkless in axils of bracts forming a loose and terminal spike, lowest flower at node 6-10, bracts and calyx covered with long and gland-tipped hairs, visible to the eye as greyish down; calyx of 4 sepals fused, with 4 undivided and finely pointed lobes; corolla of 4 petals fused into 2-lips, 8-12 mm across, with a slender corolla tube, upper lip 2-lobed, lower lip, 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, with long fine hairs.
Euphrasia is a difficult group, the species boundaries complicated by hybridisation. Several plants are necessary for identification.
Habitat: Meadows, rough grassland among bushes.Distribution: Rather local.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: Yes