Linaria dalmatica - Linaire de Dalmatie, Linaire à feuilles larges

Linaria dalmatica, the Dalmatian toadflax, is distinguished from other toadflaxes by its robust stems bearing broad, glaucous leaves that embrace the stem. Throughout the summer, they bear long clusters of lemon-yellow flowers with an orange throat, resembling snapdragon blooms. This dry-land perennial is well suited for ornamenting rock gardens, slopes, dry beds and gravel borders. Very hardy (-20°C) and undemanding, it may be necessary to control its spread.

Linaria dalmatica belongs to the Plantaginaceae family. Its common names are Dalmatian toadflax and broad-leaved toadflax. Its main botanical synonyms are Antirrhinum dalmaticum, Linaria genistifolia subsp. dalmatica, Linaria macedonica and Linaria smithii. This species is native to southeastern Europe and western Asia, notably Italy, the Balkan Peninsula, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Lebanon and Syria. It grows in open, sunny places on dry, coarse or stony, well-drained soils. It is a short-lived herbaceous perennial: a single plant lives three to five years, but it sustains itself by self-sowing and by new shoots arising from the roots. In spring, the stump produces several erect stems, smooth and branched in the upper part. A maintained clump reaches about 80 to 90 cm tall and 50 to 60 cm wide; left free, it can spread further. The leaves embrace the stem at their base. 1 to 4 cm wide and 2 to 6 cm long, they are ovate to lanceolate, pointed, glabrous and covered with a waxy film that gives them a grey-green to bluish tint. This toadflax flowers from June to September. Its flowers are gathered in terminal clusters that lengthen over the summer. Each lemon-yellow corolla has two lips, an orange bulge at the entrance to the throat and a long spur pointing backwards. Bumblebees and other sturdy bees push aside the lower lip to reach the nectar. Fertilised flowers produce small capsules containing numerous seeds. The stems dry up with the cold, but short basal shoots may persist during mild winters. The taproot of this toadflax penetrates deep into the soil; running lateral roots can produce new shoots. This root system explains its drought resistance, but also its tendency to spread. 
Introduced to North America as an ornamental, dye and medicinal plant, it escaped from gardens and is now considered a noxious weed in several regions.

On a sunny slope or in a dry garden, Dalmatian toadflax can occupy the back of a planting of ornamental grasses and perennials suited to poor soils such as Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Standing Ovation’ with bluish foliage that colours in autumn and Stipa tenuissima ‘Pony Tails’. Echinops bannaticus ‘Taplow Blue’ will dot the scene with steel-blue spheres and Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’ will unfurl its lavender-blue spikes during summer. These plants tolerate full sun, drought and chalky stony soils. Their blue foliage and flowers temper the bright yellow of the toadflax.