Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

TOADFLAX

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Nuttallanthus texanus (Scheele ) D.A. Sutton

[=Linaria canadensis (L. ) Dum. var. texana (Scheele ) Pennell]

Barber County, Kansas

Annual, emerging in winter

Height: 4-20 inches

Family: Scrophulariaceae - Figwort Family

Flowering Period: April, May, June

Also Called:

Texas toadflax.

Stems:

Flowering stems erect or ascending, 1 to several, simple or branched above, slender, glabrous; often also rosette of short prostrate stems.

Leaves:

Of 2 types, mostly glabrous; leaves of short, basal stems opposite or in 3s, oblanceolate to spatulate, 1/5 to 2/5 inch long, about 1/10 inch wide; leaves of flowering stems alternate, sessile, linear or linear-lanceolate, 1/2 to 1 inch long, less than 1/10 inch wide; margins entire.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, slender, terminal.

Flowers:

Short-stalked; calyces 5-parted, segments lanceolate, nearly equal; corollas 2-lipped; 1/4 to 1/2 inch long, pale blue-violet or bluish purple; upper lip with 2 erect lobes, longer lower lip with 3 spreading lobes; spurs curved, threadlike, additional 1/4 to 1/2 inch long.

Fruits:

Capsules, nearly spherical; seeds numerous, angular, covered with tiny bumps.

Habitat:

Dry thickets, open ground, roadsides, and old fields, on sandy soils.

Distribution:

Principally east 1/2, more frequently southward in Kansas.

Toadflax flowers