SCROPHULARIACEAE FIGWORT FAMILY 
YELLOW TOADFLAX. BUTTER AND EGGS 
Linaria vulgaris Hill 
The Yellow Toadflax is another of those immigrants which 
have become common in this country. It is a native of Europe 
and Asia and really has very pretty flowers, but is usually ignored 
as a weed. Perennial by short under- 
ground stems, it may persist in colonies 
for many years. It grows in waste places 
from Newfoundland to Oregon and 
south from Virginia to New Mexico. 
Other names are Brideweed, Flaxweed, 
and Eggs and Bacon. 
The smooth slender stems, 1-3 feet 
high, are simple or few branched and 
slightly downy near the inflorescence. 
They bear very many alternate leaves 
which are linear, sessile, entire and 
smooth, acute at both ends and up to 
1% inches long. 
The plant usually begins blooming in 
June and continues until stopped by 
freezing weather. The large flowers, in 
dense terminal panicles, may be 1% 
inches long. They are light yellow but 
the long awl-shaped spur at the base is a 
little darker and the palate that closes 
the throat of the corolla is orange. 
The oblong segments of the calyx are 
acutish and about one-eighth of an inch 
long. Pedicels are about one-quarter 
inchlong. The 4 stamens, with thread- 
like filaments, are in pairs beneath the 
upper lip. The middle lobe of the lower i o¢ 
lip is shorter than the other two. The 2- 
celled superior ovary is topped by a 
lengthy slender style, and it ripens into a capsule containing in- 
numerable rough wingéd seeds. This plant is known practically 
throughout Illinois in all counties above a line from Hardin 
to St. Clair. | 
