Sweden wildflowers: Small Cow-wheat

Melampyrum sylvaticum, SE: Skogskovall, DE: Wald-Wachtelweizen,
NL: Boszwartkoren, UK: Small Cow-wheat


Scientific name:		Melampyrum sylvaticum L.
Swedish name:		Skogskovall
German name:		Wald-Wachtelweizen
Nederlandse naam:		Boszwartkoren
English name:		Small Cow-wheat
Plant Family:		Orobanchaceae, Broomrape family, Snyltrotsväxter


Life form:		Annual
Stems:		Stems erect, simple or branched and up to 40 cm; branches ascending, in opposite pairs; base of both stem and branches softly hairy and tinged red-brown in larger plants. Hairs occur in two opposite rows on stem or branches in the plane perpendicular to branch of leaf emergence.
Leaves:		Opposite, narrow leaves
Flowers:		Opposite, deep yellow tubular flowers; after fertilization the petals often turn a distinctive bright brick-red or orange colour as they fade
Flowering Period:		June, July, August
Fruits:		Capsule narrowly ovoid, acuminate, dehiscing dorsally (1–) 2–4 seeds. Seeds ovoid, yellow brown, with pale elaiosome becoming black after dehiscence.
Habitat:		Humid parts of open woodlands

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Derivation of the botanical name:
Melampyrum, from the Greek melas, "black" and pyros, "wheat", because the seeds made bread black when mixed with them.
sylvaticum from the Latin Sylva, "forest", and aimed at the plant site.

The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.

Melampyrum sylvaticum is insect-pollinated. Ants have been reported to be the main dispersal agents and the seed bears an elaiosome which offers them a lipid-rich reward.
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