Purple Toadflax

Purple Toadflax - Linaria purpurea

Description

Medium height, tufted, hairless plant, stems erect to ascending, often branched above. Leaves linear, numerous, the lower whorled. Flowers purple or purplish violet 9 to 12 mm, in long, rather dense tapered racemes, the spur 5 mm long and curved.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Waste places, disturbed ground and cultivated land.

When to see it

June to August.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Locally naturalised, mainly in England.

VC55 Status

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 88 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Additional images

All NatureSpot records

Photo of the association

Chromatomyia horticola

The larvae of the Agromyzid fly Chromatomyia horticola mines the leaves of various plants, including Purple Toadflax, creating an upper-surface (sometimes lower surface also) corridor. Frass appears in isolated grains. Pupation takes place within the mine, usually in a lower-surface, puparial chamber.