Euphrasia

Euphrasia officinalis spp. rostkoviana, from here.

Belongs within: Scrophulariaceae.

Euphrasia, eyebrights, is a cosmopolitan genus of semi-parasitic herbs.

Characters (from Black & Robertson 1965): Herbs parasitic on roots of other plants, with opposite toothed leaves; flowers subsessile, solitary in axils of opposite leafy bracts, forming terminal spikes. Calyx four-lobed; corolla two lipped, the tube narrower, the throat open, upper lip hooded with two lobes whose margins are more or less reflexed, lower lip spreading, three-lobed, middle lobe sometimes notched; stamens 4, in pairs; anthers connivent, more or less hairy, with two cells unequally mucronate at base; style filiform, bent near summit, with capitate stigma; capsule oblong, slightly compressed, opening loculicidally in two valves; seeds numerous, minute, oblong, ribbed.

<==Euphrasia Linnaeus 1753 [incl. Siphonidium] A61
    |--E. schinzii V98
    |--E. × trikoviana [E. officinalis ssp. rostkoviana × E. tricuspidata] V98
    |--E. subsect. Angustifoliae V98
    |    |--E. salisburgensis V98
    |    `--E. tricuspidata V98
    `--E. (subsect. Ciliatae) officinalis V98
         |--E. o. ssp. officinalis V98
         `--E. o. ssp. rostkoviana V98

Euphrasia incertae sedis:
  E. australis Petrie 1911 [incl. E. crosby-smithii Petrie 1916] A61
  E. borneensis P88
  E. cheesemanii Wettstein 1900 A61
  E. cockayniana Petrie 1894 [incl. E. berggrenii Wettst. 1896] A61
  E. collina Brown 1810 [incl. E. brownii Mueller 1865, E. speciosa] BR65
  E. cuneata Forster 1786 (see below for synonymy) A61
  E. disperma Hooker 1879 A61 (see below for synonymy)
  E. × drosocalyx [E. minima × E. officinalis ssp. rostkoviana] V98
  E. drucei Ashwin in Allan 1961 A61
  E. dyeri Wettstein 1896 A61
  E. himalayica O88
  E. integrifolia Petrie 1915 A61
  E. laingii Petrie 1912 A61
  E. minima [incl. E. markgrafii, E. mattfeldii] V98
  E. monroi Hooker 1864 A61
  E. nepalensis O88
  E. odontites R00
  E. petriei Ashwin in Allan 1961 A61
  E. picta V98
  E. pulchella V98
  E. repens Hooker 1854 [incl. E. umbellata Petrie 1911] A61
  E. revoluta Hooker 1854 A61
  E. scabra BR65
  E. stricta V98
  E. townsonii Petrie 1912 A61
  E. wettsteiniana Du Rietz 1931 NL98, A61
  E. zelandica Wettstein 1896 (see below for synonymy) A61

Euphrasia cuneata Forster 1786 [incl. E. diversifolia Petrie 1917, E. tricolor var. microphylla Colenso 1887, E. tricolor Colenso 1887, E. cuneata var. tricolor (Colenso) Cheeseman 1925] A61

Euphrasia disperma Hooker 1879 A61 [=*Anagosperma dispermum (Hooker) Wettstein 1895 C06, A61; incl. E. longiflora Kirk 1879 non Vahl 1794 A61, Siphonidium longiflorum Armstrong 1881 A61]

Euphrasia zelandica Wettstein 1896 [incl. E. antarctica Hooker 1854 non Benth. in DC. 1846, E. antarctica var. grandiflora Hooker 1854, E. antarctica var. major Hooker 1854, E. pygmaea Colenso 1899 non Koch 1849, E. wilsonii Petrie 1924] A61

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A61] Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand vol. 1. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledones. R. E. Owen, Government Printer: Wellington (New Zealand).

[BR65] Black, J. M., & E. L. Robertson. 1965. Flora of South Australia. Part IV. Oleaceae–Compositae. W. L. Hawes, Government Printer: Adelaide.

[C06] Cheeseman, T. F. 1906. Manual of the New Zealand Flora. John Mackay, Government Printer: Wellington.

[NL98] Norton, D. A., & P. J. de Lange. 1998. Hebe paludosa (Scrophulariaceae)—a new combination for an endemic wetland Hebe from Westland, South Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 36: 531–538.

[O88] Ohba, H. 1988. The alpine flora of the Nepal Himalayas: an introductory note. In: Ohba, H., & S. B. Malla (eds) The Himalayan Plants vol. 1. The University Museum, University of Tokyo, Bulletin 31: 19–46.

[P88] Polunin, I. 1988. Plants and Flowers of Malaysia. Times Editions: Singapore.

[R00] Ramond, C. 1800. Suite des plantes inédites des Hautes-Pyrénées. Bulletin des Sciences, par la Societé Philomathique de Paris 2 (42): 140–141.

[V98] Vitek, E. 1998. Are the taxonomic concepts of agamospermous genera useful for autogamous groups—a critical discussion using the example of Euphrasia (Scrophulariaceae). Folia Geobotanica 33: 349–352.