Red Bartsia and.....?

[Adam Cheeseman]

Found this species growing in my local meadow and initially thought it was a robust specimen of Red Bartsia until I saw lots more of it growing around. However, compared to Red Bartsia it looks far more robust, larger and different, but just can't pin it down. Anyone know what it is? Or is it just Red Bartsia?



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This last pic shows the plant on the left compared to Red Bartsia on the right.




Cheers,

Adam

[Dorts]

Adam, it's just a very robust plant of Red Bartsia. Being a partial parasite it is rather dependant on how well its host is doing. It obviously chose wisely!
There are no other native species of the genus Odontites found in Britain, so nothing similar.
There is a French Bartsia, but that's yellow.
Dorts.

[Adam Cheeseman]

Cheers Dorts.