TOAD-FLAX
Family SCROPHULARIACEAE
Linaria species
Annual/Perennial
A genus native to Europe, North Africa and Canada,
including many annuals and perennials.
From Morocco we have Linaria maroccana, an annual
of nine to twelve inches, with narrow foliage
and short spikes of small flowers that are violet-rose
with a speck of yellow and pointed spurs.
There are many charming garden varieties, bushy
and compact, that produce flowers of white, yellow,
purple, lavender, pink and violet-blue.
Linaria bipartita, from Algeria, had violet flowers
with an orange lip. There are white, red, violet,
rose, yellow and purple flowered forms. Spurred
flowers of yellow, pink, red, maroon and purple
characterise
Linaria supina, from Majorca, a half-hardy perennial,
best treated as an annual and reaching nine inches.
Linaria vulgaris is a perennial of spreading habit
bearing flowers like snapdragons in sulphur yellow
with an orange lip.
Seed may be sown in August or April where the
plants are to flower, thinned to four to six inches
apart. They like a sunny position and a well-drained
humus-rich soil.
Propagation is from seed.
The flowering season is in early summer, and later
if plants are prevented from developing seed.
See also : Linaria
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