Euphrasia officinalis L.

  • Authority

    Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

  • Family

    Scrophulariaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Euphrasia officinalis L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Stems 1–4 dm, simple or freely branched, floriferous in the upper 1/3 to 2/3; lvs ovate to suborbicular, 5–15(–20) mm, sharply 3–5-toothed on each margin, glabrous or sometimes hairy beneath; bracteal lvs similar, but the teeth more distinctly subulate or bristle-tipped; cal glabrous or nearly so, the lobes 2.5–3.5 mm at maturity; cor 5–10 mm, typically pale lavender with deeper purple guide-lines, the lower lip also marked with yellow, or seldom the cor deeper violet; upper cor-lip evidently bilobed; fr glabrous or nearly so; seeds 1.3–2 mm; 2n=22, 44. Dry or moist fields, roadsides, and waste places; native of Europe, early intr. into N. Engl., and now well established from Nf. and Que. to Mass., N.Y., and Pa., and inland to Ont. June–Oct. Divided by European botanists into a myriad of scarcely distinguishable microspecies, of which the following have also been attributed to our range: E. borealis, E. curia, E. micrantha, E. nemorosa, E. rigidula, E. stricta, E. tatarica, E. tetraquetra. The names E. americana and E. canadensis were based on intr. forms of this same complex.

  • Common Names

    European eyebright