About Scrophularia auriculata L.
Scrophularia auriculata, commonly called shoreline figwort or water figwort, is a perennial plant species in the genus Scrophularia, family Scrophulariaceae. It grows commonly across Western Europe and North Africa, inhabiting the margins of rivers, ponds and other similar damp locations. It is an upright plant that grows up to 70 cm tall. It produces blunt, oval, crenate leaves arranged in alternate pairs along a greenish-purple square stem, and most leaves have two small lobes at their base. Stiff spikes of flowers grow from square stems that emerge from the main stem at the junction of leaf stalks. A thin wing runs down each corner of the square stems, and these wings are more prominent than those of its close relative common figwort, Scrophularia nodosa. The flowers are small, maroon-brown, and globular, with two small lips positioned above and below the bloom. Its five sepals are green with white margins, and these sepals are broader than the sepals of common figwort. In the northern hemisphere, this plant flowers from June through September. After flowering finishes, it produces small spherical to pear-shaped seed capsules that hold a large number of seeds. The specific epithet auriculata comes from the auricles (small lobes) found at the base of its leaves. Water figwort acts as a host for the figwort sawfly, whose larvae feed on this plant's leaves.
