Chaenorhinum origanifolium
Chaenorhinum origanifolium is a flowering plant in the Plantaginaceae family. It is native to mountainous areas of southern Europe and northwestern Africa, including the Iberian Peninsula, Balearic Islands, Italy, Greece, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. It grows on rocks and in crevices of limestone cliffs.
Habitat and form: This plant is a perennial herb that can reach up to about 40 cm tall. It has stems that are purple at the base, and may be erect, ascending, or prostrate, sometimes branched. Leaves are small (about 4–23 mm long and 2–13 mm wide), shaped from nearly circular to oblanceolate, with a base that tapers.
Flowers and fruits: The inflorescence holds 2–25 flowers. Flowers are on pedicels typically 5–30 mm long (up to 32 mm in fruiting). The calyx is purplish-green with linear-spatulate, subacute sepals and dense glandular hairs on the outer face. The fruit is a capsule 2.5–5.5 mm in size, subglobose and shorter than the calyx, with smooth, glandular-pubescent locules. Seeds are 0.5–0.9 × 0.4–0.5 mm, dark brown or black with longitudinal crests that are sinuous.
Subspecies: Five subspecies are accepted—cadevallii, crassifolium, origanifolium, rodriguezii, and segoviense.
Synonyms: It has also been known as Antirrhinum origanifolium and Linaria origanifolia (including subsp. euoriganifolia).
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 18:23 (CET).