Wildlife Watch: Pale toadflax

This year I've been taking part in some volunteering where I help monitor a stretch of roadside noted a Roadside Nature Reserve. Roadsides can actually be important and diverse grassland habitats as they often haven't seen the addition of fertillisers like many pastures have. A species of note here is Pale toadflax (Linaria repens), a plant that is relatively rare in Kent and this is what this Wildlife Watch is about.

Toadflaxes are part of the Plantain family and are so named as their flowers are said to resemble a toad's mouth - not sure i see it myself but the flower shape is quite distinctive with three lower lobes and two upper ones to each flower with each flower having a spur that protects to the back. 

Pale toadflax is a small plant that grows in dry calcareous (alkaline) soils. Its flowers are white or pale lilac that are striped in purple with a yellow central spot. It has a stumpy spur at the flower's base that is straight and flowers in later summer up until October. It is a hairless plant with simple tapering leaves that spiral around the stem in whorls.

Common toadflax - also present at the site

It can hybridise with another native toadflax, Common toadflax - a larger two tone yellow flower to give pale yellow flowers with purple veins. Some of the flowers on the site did seem to have a pale yellow appearance so I wonder if there are hybrids there as Common toadflax is also present; although I'm not sure how common hybrids are.