Fun Flower Facts: “Butter and Eggs” Flower (Linaria vulgaris)

Scientific name: linaria vulgaris.

Other names: yellow toadflax, bread and butter, bunny mouths, flaxweed,  lion’s outh

Butter and eggs isn’t breakfast. It’s the name of a flower that seems to be everywhere. You might have seen these snapdragon-like flowers along roadsides, wastelands and alleys. Actually, in some places like Alberta, Canada,  these fast-spreading perennials are consider weeds.

Butter and Eggs is the common name given to this buttery flower with an orange/yellow-yolk center. The orange “tongue” part of the flower attracts insects to the delectable nectar inside.

These plants, native to Asia and Europe, can grow to be a height of 1 to 3 feet tall and tend to grow in clumps. They can become invasive because they tend to self-sow, spreading their seeds everywhere. Lunaria vulgaris will flower from early summer until fall. It can adapt to most soil conditions, but prefers sandy, well-drained soils.

Butter and eggs can be used as cut flowers. They will last a long time in a vase.

Fun Flower Facts about Butter and Eggs

• The leaves can be made into a herbal tea, which is used as a strong laxative and diuretic.
• In traditional herbal medicine, the flowers were used to treat skin diseases.
• There is an old belief that when you walk around the flower 3 times, it will remove any spells that have been cast on you!
• The flower has been used to create yellow dye.
• A single plant can produce up to 500 000 seeds per year!
• The plant is poisonous to livestock if ingested.
• In Europe, it is common to use the flowers and milk to make an insecticide to get rid of flies.
• Butter and Eggs are typically yellow-orange, but there is a also a blue–purple variety!