Cow wheat (Melampyrum cristatum)

Description

Melampyrum cristatum is a species of plant belonging to the family Scrophulariaceae . It is an annual herb, which does not blacken when it dries. Stems of 10-50 cm, quadrangular, ± branched. Leaves 25-60 × 3-10 mm, linear or lanceolate, entire or sometimes upper toothed at the base, sessile. Inflorescence of 2.5-7 cm, in dense spike, compact in its entirety, multilateral, quadrangular, with flowers that protrude in four rows; sessile bracts, densely imbricated, hiding the axis of the inflorescence, greenish or purplish-reddish, often with some small nectaries on the underside, the lower ones, with a basal limbus of 8-15 × 12-20 mm, cordiform, folded longitudinally , with numerous irregular teeth of 1-2.5 mm, and a terminal appendix up to 40 (70) mm, linear-lanceolate, entire, flat, in general reflex, the upper ones reduced almost only to the limbus; sessile flowers. Chalice (5) 6-8 (9) mm, irregular, hairy on the margin of the lobes and nerves; 2.5-3.5 mm tube; linear-subulate lobes, ± straight, unequal, the upper 2 long -2.5-4.5 mm- and the lower 2 short -1-2.5 mm-. Corolla 11-15 (16) mm, pale yellow, often with purplish tones and with throat yellow golden, ± powdery on the outside; curved tube, at least twice as long as the lips, subglass inside; throat ± closed; lower lip patent. Somewhat papillary filaments, the upper ones 2-2.5 mm, the lower ones 3-4 mm; anthers 2.2-2.6 mm, with subequal mucrons. Nectary 0.5-0.8 mm. Capsule 7-10 × 5-8 mm, distinctly longer than the calyx, semilunar or somewhat recurved, compressed, dehiscent only by the adaxial margin, glabrous, except 2 rows of hairs along the line of dehiscence. Seeds 4-5 × 1.8-2.5 mm, in general 4 per capsule. It has a number ofchromosomes of 2n = 18; n Claros and borders of forest, especially in oak and gall oak, both in calcareous and siliceous terrains; 400-1400 m. V-VIII. Eurosiberiana; Europe, except the extreme N and scarce in the S, reached by the SW the C of the Iberian Peninsula, and western Asia, arriving by the E to the Yenisei River. Medium and high basins of the Ebro (Pyrenees, Basque mountains and foothills of the Northern Iberian System), and arrives by the S to the eastern half of the Central System Taxonomy Melampyrum cristatum, was described by Hablitz ex Steud. and published in Nomencl. Bot. ed. 2, 2: 113 , 1841. Melampyrum ronnigeri Poeverl. Melampyrum solstitiale Ronniger in Dörfl.