Scientific name: Odontites vernus (Bellardi) Dumort.
Common name: Red Bartsia
Description
Habit: A hemiparasitic annual, to 50 cm high.
Stems: Erect, hairy, hard, freely branching.
Leaves: Opposite, stalkless, without stipules, undivided, lanceolate, toothed.
Flowers: Dull pinkish-red, zygomorphic, hermaphrodite, 8-10 mm long, in terminal leafy spikes; calyx of 4 sepals fused into bell-shaped tube with 4 short teeth; corolla of 4 petals fused into 2-lips, lower lip with 3 lobes, mouth open; stamens 4, borne on corolla tube; ovary superior, 2-celled, style 1.
Fruits: A capsule, flattened and furrowed.
Habitat: Roadsides, disturbed or heavily grazed grassland.Distribution: Common over most of the limestone, occasional to frequent elsewhere.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No