Misopates calycinum
Phylum: Magnoliophyta - Class: Liliopsida - Order: Lamiales - Family: Plantaginaceae
This Mediterranean wildflower is related to Antirrhinum majus, the much-loved Snapdragon which grows in our gardens in the UK, but which also grows wild in the Mediterranean region.
This member of the family Plantaginaceae is common throughout the Iberian Peninsula and can pop up almost anywhere in arable land, on roadsides and even in rocky and sandy ground.
Misopates calycinum is easily confused with Misopates orontium - Lesser Snapdragon - with which it shares habitats. The colour and markings of the flower are rather different, and Misopates calycinum is a taller and more robust-looking plant.
Misopates calycinum blooms from March right through until September.
The specimens shown on this page were photographed in the Algarve, southern Portugal, in April.
Please Help Us: If you have found this information interesting and useful, please consider helping to keep First Nature online by making a small donation towards the web hosting and internet costs.
Any donations over and above the essential running costs will help support the conservation work of Plantlife, the Rivers Trust and charitable botanic gardens - as do author royalties and publisher proceeds from books by Pat and Sue.