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Dalmatian toadflax (Linaria dalmatica)

Dalmatian toadflax Common Names: Broadleaf Dalmatian toadflax

Description: Originally introduced to North America as an ornamental plant in the late 1800s.

Habit: Short-lived, herbaceous perennial; narrow and upright, growing up to 4 ft tall; Taproots may reach depths of 4-10 ft, and lateral roots can extend 12 feet from parent plant.

Leaves: Heart-shaped, waxy, pale green in color, and 1-3 in long with clasping bases.

Stems: Somewhat woody at the base, and frequently branched in the upper portion. Waxy in texture.

Flowers: Bright yellow in color with orange markings and elongate spurs and occur in simple racemes on the stems, 1.4-2 in long and snap-dragon like; Blooms May through September.

Fruit and seeds: Fruits are capsules that are 0.5 in long and contain an average of 140 to 250 small black-brown, seeds with wings.

Habitat: Native from central Europe to central Asia. Found in disturbed sites, roadsides, clear cuts, railroad right-of-ways, fences, croplands, pastures, and rangelands. Prefers dry sites with coarse, well-drained soil.

Reproduction: By seed.

Similar species: Butter and eggs or Yellow toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) is similar in appearance, but has more linear pointed leaves, and is generally smaller.

Monitoring and rapid response: Hand-pulling, mowing, and tillage can be effective in preventing seed productions and starving toadflax roots; effective herbicides for toadflax include chlorsulfuron, dicamba, picloram and imazapic. It may be necessary to retreat every 3-4 years; flower feeding beetles (Brachypterolus pulicarius and Gymnetron antirrhini) reduce seed production.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the Colorado Weed Management Association and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).


Common Name:

Dalmatian toadflax

Scientific Name:

Linaria dalmatica

Family:

Scrophulariaceae
(Figwort)

Duration:

Perennial

Habit:

Herbs

USDA Symbol:

LIDA