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Also known as Butter and Eggs and sometimes called Gallwort, this perennial is a member of the Figwort family. Its other common name comes from its blossoms. Introduced from Europe, the yellow flowers, butter coloured, have an orange ‘nose’, looking like an egg yolk. The flower has only 4-5 sepals, is about 2 to 3.5 cm long and resembles the Snapdragon. The mouth of the flower is completely closed and never opens until a bee forces its entrance, usually a larger kind of bee, which would be strong enough to force it open.
In the Algonquin Highlands, from May to July, you can finds these pretty blossoms along roadsides, in clearings and fields. It grows to heights ranging from 10 to 60cm, with smooth stems and alternating oval leaves that do not have a stalk. This plant produces an offensive odour, which deters cattle from eating it.
Toadflax grows from rhizomes and by seed. It produces many winged seeds that are round and dark coloured with notched, papery collars that act as wings in spreading of its seed.
This is a parasitic plant the steals nutrients from the roots of nearby trees and shrubs. It is a host plant for larvae of several moths beetles. Parts of this plant is used for herbal medicine, as an astringent, hepatic and a detergent. It is also an excellent fly poison, and parts of the plant can be used to make a yellow dye.
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