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Butter and eggs (Linaria vulgaris)

Butter and eggs Common Names: Yellow toadflax, Jacob's ladder, Wild snapdragon

Description: Introduced to North America as an ornamental in the mid 1600s.

Habit: Perennial, herbaceous, spreading, can reach up to 1 m (3.3 ft) tall.

Leaves: Nearly sessile, drooping, linear, 1-2 in (2.5-5 cm) long, sometimes be sparsely covered by long hairs, blue-green in color.

Stems: Erect to decumbent stems; 1-2 ft high.

Flowers: Yellow to white in color, snapdragon-like flowers, 0.6-1.2 in (1.5-3 cm) long and occur in racemes at the apex of the stems; 15-20 flowers per stem.

Fruit and seeds: Seed are 0.4-0.5 in (9-12 mm) long, each capsule contains small, flat seeds with a papery wing.

Habitat: Native to Europe. Found in fields, pastures, roadsides, undisturbed prairies and rangelands.

Reproduction: By seed. Easily dispersed by wind and water, and stay viable in the soil for up to 8 years.

Similar species: Oldfield toadflax (Nuttallanthus canadensis).

Monitoring and rapid response: Frequent mowing will weaken the plant; Spray with 2,4-D broadleaf herbicide; 2 European beetles feed on buds, flowers and seed capsules.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the Invasive Plant Atlas, the USDA PLANTS Database 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 (https://images.google.com).


Common Name:

Butter and eggs

Scientific Name:

Linaria vulgaris

Family:

Scrophulariaceae
(Figwort)

Duration:

Perennial

Habit:

Herbs

USDA Symbol:

LIVU2