General:
Perennial herb from a long creeping rhizome; stems erect, 10-80 cm tall, sometimes branched above, smooth, glaucous; milky juice appearing when stems or leaves broken.

Leaves:
Alternate or the lowermost nearly opposite, numerous, unstalked, linear to narrowly lanceolate, smooth-margined, 2-10 cm long, smooth.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a long, terminal, smooth to minutely glandular-hairy, spike-like cluster of numerous short-stalked flowers, at first dense, elongating in age; corollas bright yellow with a central, orange-hairy patch at the throat, 20-35 mm long including the long straight basal spur, which is about as long as the rest of the corolla, 2-lipped, the upper lip 2-lobed, the lower lip 3-lobed; calyces 2-4 mm long, deeply 5-lobed, the lobes nearly distinct, lanceolate; stamens 4.

Fruits:
Capsules, egg-shaped to broadly cylindric, 5-10 mm long; seeds numerous, disc-shaped with broad wings, about 2 mm long, the central portion pimply.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Linaria linaria (L.) Karst.

Flowering dates for this species in our region range from June 14 to September 5, based on photo records in the E-Flora BC photo gallery and the Burke Museum photo gallery.