Scientific name: Euphrasia anglica Pugsley
Common name: Eyebright
Description
Habit: A small hemiparasitic annual, to 20 cm high.
Stems: Erect, hairy, with 1-4 slender and erect pairs of branches arising near the base, usually again branched.
Leaves: Stalkless, toothed and without stipules; upper leaves alternate, lower leaves opposite.
Flowers: White or lilac lower lip with a yellow patch, lilac upper lip, zygomorphic, hermaphrodite; stalkless in axils of bracts, forming a loose and terminal spike, lowest flower at node 5-8; bracts and calyx bearing 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, 6.5-8 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: Heathy grassland.Distribution: Occasional almost throughout.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No