Cow-wheat locally called midsummer flower
Photo: Arne Ader
Translation: Liis
Wood cow-wheat
Wood cow-wheat Harilik härghein Melampyrum nemorosum
The cow-wheat always brings a many-coloured look to a midsummer flower garland. Growing at forest road-sides and wooded meadows it is a quite interesting flower in full bloom with its bright yellow flowers. A common question: what, but the flowers are purple?
The uppermost leaves, or bracts, placed in the inflorescence and at the tip of the plant’s stem are purple. The bright yellow flowers stay in the shade of the bracts. The bracts have the same purpose as the petals of other flowers – to make the plant more beautiful and more visible to pollinators.
One more interesting feature – the wood cow-wheat is a semiparasite. Its roots are small and poorly developed, but the root is a device by which it fastens to other larger and stronger plants, and obtain a part of the necessary nutrients from bigger shrubs or trees. The host plants have a large and well developed root system and will not mind such a small and temporary theft. Thus the habitats of wood cow-wheat mostly stays close to trees.
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