September 17, 2017

Stiff Eyebright


Stiff Eyebright (Euphrasia stricta) is a little plant that grows in dry limestone meadows.









Now, at the end of summer, it has only a few flowers left on top of its stalks, the other flowers already fructified.








Midsummer in this flowery meadow it was still surrounded by its hosts, certain grasses and leguminose plants. Hosts? Yes, Stiff Eyebright is a hemiparasite, it has chlorophyll but it feeds also on the roots of other plants. Often around it you see grasses and other plants that are visibly smaller and less developed because of this hemiparasitism.




The flowers are tiny, purple-striped and with a yellow spot on the lower lip. Leaves and bracts toothed.