Purple Toadflax

Purple Toadflax is native to Italy.

Purple Toadflax

Purple Toadflax is a member of the plantain family, the best known of which is the banana.

Purple Toadflax

Purple Toadflax's name comes from the alleged resemblance between the flower's wide mouth, appearing in June, and the wide mouth of the toad.

Purple Toadflax

Many plantains have flat leaves that seem to lie on the ground, hence the derivation of the name from the Latin 'planta', the sole of the foot.

Purple Toadflax - fasciation

Purple Toadflax is susceptible to fasciation where the plant's stem broadens as a form of mutation, as seen in this photograph. Opinion varies as to whether this broadening is caused by genetic mutation or by an insect bite. Either way, the stem broadens and develops an oval or rounded, rectangular profile, instead of a circle one. The resulting flower head often emerges more from a horizontal stem tip than a vertical one.

Dandelions and delphiniums are other plants that are susceptible to fasciation.

(The word fasciation derives from the Latin fasces meaning 'a bundle'. Roman legions often sported a fasces in the form of a bundle of rods wrapped around an axe, conveying the notion of strength in numbers. Whereas one might snap a single rod - or twig - one could not do so if many of these are tied together. The term fascism has the same linguistic root. For the Purple Toadflax, the duplication of the flower's stem into many stems borne side-by-side in a single, mutated stem, the term fasciation is apposite.)

The Royal Horticultural Society's website offers an authoritative account of this phenomenon.