Hemi-Parasitic Plants |
Broomrape Family [Orobanchaceae] |
status
flower
morph
petals
type
stem
rarity
(ssp. commutatum)
ssp. Pratense(the much more common sub-species) |
5th June 2014, Sandstone Trail, south of Frodsham | Photo: © RWD |
A wide spread of the low flowers. |
6th July 2007, Colwith Force, Little Langdale. | Photo: © RWD |
The leaves are similar to those of grass, but much shorter and slightly paler. |
6th July 2007, Colwith Force, Little Langdale, Cumbria | Photo: © RWD |
The grass-like leaves are well camouflaged by the grass. |
1st Aug 2007, Darwen Moor, Darwen, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
The leaves are long-lanceolate. |
1st July 2005, Eskdale Valley. | Photo: © RWD |
The leaves vary in length, longest near the root end of the plant, but are long-lanceolate in shape. |
6th July 2007, Colwith Force, Little Langdale, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
the flowers are in adjacent pairs just above the oppositely paired leaves - all on a square stem. |
6th July 2007, Colwith Force, Little Langdale, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
The flowers always grow in adjacent pairs, much like does Skullcap. |
6th July 2007, Colwith Force, Little Langdale, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
The leaves are on short stalks. The stem square. Despite the leaves coming off the square stem on alternate siudes of the stem, the flowers seem to contrive to all point in much the same direction. They apparently achieve this by the 90° twists between each pair of flowers on the square stem. |
6th July 2007, Colwith Force, Little Langdale, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
The 5 sepal teeth are surprisingly long and narrow. The upper lip (which when not yet opened) is narrow and the overall shape of the flower then is similar to another hemi-parasitic plant, Yellow-Rattle. When opened the upper lip has a short moustache and hairs from the lips. |
1st June 2018, Seathwaite, Borrowdale Valley, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
From beneath the flower the shape of the lower lip is concave a bit like that of a cobra about to strike. Both top and bottom lips are a bit thick-lipped. |
1st June 2018, Seathwaite, Borrowdale Valley, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
The lower lip looks thick because it curls over outwards and backwards. |
1st July 2016, Limb Valley, Sheffield, South Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
These specimens from the Limb Valley are definitely in the North of England (not South) and also growing in acidic moorland conditions amongst Bilberry and yet, contraditorily, some are pale yellow. And yet others are white or pinky-purplish. Perhaps the pale yellow colour (rather than deep yellow) is due to lack of sunlight - these specimens are similar to those of Small Cow-wheat(which also do not have lower-petal teeth which are reflexed, but rather like this with 2 or 3 teeth sticking out. However, this theory seems to be scuppered by the fact that no Small Cow-wheat has been recorded onto BSBI maps that is south of Dundee in Scotland in the last 2 decades! And the furthest south they ever got was Middleton in Teesdale before 1986 (where it has not been seen there since). So the conclusion is that these from the Limb Valley near Sheffield are of Common Cow-wheat, albeit with teeth not yet reflexed beneath... |
1st July 2016, Limb Valley, Sheffield, South Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
On the centrally placed pale yellow flowers, the lower lip has not yet curled around underneath and it is easily seen that they have three teeth; and inside two bumps (on the underside they are indentations). The topmost flower has a closed mouth and looks like a Bottle-nose Dolphin. Your Author does not know why the lower pair have purplish flowers apart from observing that they are decaying and it may be that the yellow dyes change to purple in the decay process - note that the sepal cup and teeth are already a deep brown-purple. |
ssp. Commutatum[RR] |
28th June 2019, Garston Wood, Hampshire | Photo: © Jill Stevens |
The flowers of this alkaline-soil loving and much rarer ssp. commutatum are much pallor in colour than the normal acid-soil loving ssp. pratense |
28th June 2019, Garston Wood, Hampshire | Photo: © Jill Stevens |
And the broadest leaves are about twice as broad as those of ssp. pratense |
28th June 2019, Garston Wood, Hampshire | Photo: © Jill Stevens |
The much broader leaves of ssp. commutatum [the leaf length difference is not nearly as pronounced as is the difference in breadth]. |
Slight resemblance to :Skullcap, but Common Cow-Wheat is yellow not blue. The flowers themselves have some semblance to other hemi-parasitic plants such as Yellow Rattle (Rhianthus minor), but that is shorter and the flowers all yellow.
The flowers of Common Cow-wheat are usually pale-yellow and not rich yellow as most (all?) of the above photos show. This is because Common Cow-wheat occurs as either of two sub-species:
This is a Hemi-parasitic plant, meaning that it relies on obtaining some of its nutrients from the roots of nearby plants even though it has chlorophyll in its leaves and is able to photosynthesize. The leaves are hard to see blending in well with the grass it grows so well amongst. The yellow flowers always grow in pairs up the stem. The first pair to emerge being at the top of the (square) stem. The sepal teeth are very long and have brownish markings.
The seeds contain high concentrations of the toxic glycosidic compound
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Melampyrum | pratense | ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ | Orobanchaceae |
Melampyrum (Cow-wheats) |
Broomrape Family [Orobanchaceae] |