About Linaria alpina (L.) Mill.
Nomenclature and Common Name
Linaria alpina (L.) Mill., sometimes called alpine toadflax, is a purple-flowered plant native to mountainous regions of southern and central Europe. It is a member of the plantain family, Plantaginaceae, which is unrelated to the plantain fruit.
Geographic Distribution
This species occurs across many mountain ranges in southern and central Europe, ranging from the Sierra de Gredos and Montes de León in Spain to the mountains of the Balkan Peninsula, and including the Jura Mountains, Alps, Pyrenees, and central Apennine Mountains.
Habitat and Colonization Trait
It acts as an early colonizer of newly exposed, unconsolidated glacial moraine.
Flower Characteristics
Unlike most other species in the genus Linaria, L. alpina produces purple flowers with orange lobes at the centre; some forms of the species have these central lobes also purple.
