''Scrophularia auriculata'', the shoreline figwort or water figwort, is a perennial plant of the genus
Scrophularia
The genus ''Scrophularia'' of the family Scrophulariaceae comprises about 200 species of herbaceous flowering plants commonly known as figworts. Species of ''Scrophularia'' all share square stems, opposite leaves and open two-lipped flowers for ...
in the family
Scrophulariaceae
The Scrophulariaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and perennial herbs, as well as shrubs. Flowers have bilateral (zygomorphic) or rarely radial (actinomorphic) symmetry. The Scr ...
. It is found commonly in Western Europe and North Africa, on the margins of rivers, ponds and similar damp places.
It is an upright plant reaching 70 cm with blunt oval,
crenate
A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...
leaves in alternate pairs on the greenish–purple square stem, most leaves may have two small lobes at their base. The spikes of flowers are held stiffly on square stems which arise from the main stem in the angle of the leaf stalks. The square stems have a wing running down each corner. These wings are more obvious than on the closely related common figwort (''
Scrophularia nodosa
''Scrophularia nodosa'' (also called figwort, woodland figwort, and common figwort) is a perennial herbaceous plant found in temperate regions of the Northern hemisphere except western North America. It grows in moist and cultivated waste groun ...
''). The flowers are small, maroon-brownish and globular with two small lips above and below. The five sepals are green with a white margin, broader on the water figwort than the common figwort. The plant flowers from June to September after when the flowers produce small spherical to pear-shaped capsules containing a large number of seeds.
The name ''auriculata'' derives from the
auricles at the base of the leaves.
The water figwort is host to the
figwort sawfly whose larvae feed on the leaves.
'' (figwort sawfly)
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q160256
auriculata
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Flora of Malta
