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Field cow-wheat

Once widespread, this attractive plant has declined as a result of modern agricultural practices and is now only found in four sites in South East England.

Scientific name

Melampyrum arvense

When to see

Flowers May to September

Species information

Category

Statistics

Height: up to 60cm high

Conservation status

Endangered – Protected under Schedule 8 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981.

About

This rare and declining plant was once common on arable fields, where it was considered a weed, but has been decimated by modern agricultural practices. It can still be found in a few open grasslands, particularly on dry chalky soils.

Field cow-wheat is a hemiparasite, meaning it gets some of its food from another species, as well as from photosynthesis. It can parasitise a wide range of host species but tends to favour grasses. The large seeds are poisonous.

How to identify

An herbaceous flowering plant, it has striking purple and yellow spiked clusters of flowers on branching stems. The leaves grow on opposite sides of the stem. They are lanceolate (long, pointed and wider in the middle, like the tip of a lance) and may be toothed.

Distribution

Endangered, only found on 4 sites in South East England

Did you know?

Known locally as poverty weed, people were once paid to pull up the plant and carefully carry it off site to be burnt. Any seeds that were dropped had to be picked up and remove as well.