Parentucellia viscosa (L.) Caruel
Family: SCROPHULARIACEAE
Genus: Parentucellia
Spanish common name: Algarabia pegajosa.
Province distribution: Alacant. Balearic Islands. Girona.
Distribution in the islands: Mallorca. Menorca. Ibiza.
General distribution (Phytogeography): Some regions
IUCN Category: Least concern
Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Life-forms: Terophyte.
Habitats: Cultivated fields, path and road sides, disturbed zones. Non cultivated fields, path and road sides.
Characteristics: An annual cycle herb which grows erectly and can reach half a metre in height, although it is generally smaller. It is characterised by having opposite leaves with a dentate margin; the whole plant has a light green-yellowish colour. The plant is covered in glandous hairs which give it its characteristically sticky feel. It forms a spike of flowers at the top. The flowers can be identified without any doubts, they are yellow (sometimes white) and the petals form two lips, the lower one is divided into lobules. It lives in dry pastures and in farmlands. It can be mistaken for Bellardia trixago (with the specimens with yellow flowers, given the fact that it normally has whitish flowers with a bluish petal) which lives in the same places, this species has narrower leaves and the calyx is clearly shorter than the tube of the flower, in Parentucelia viscosa the calyx is as long as the tube of the flower. It flowers at the end of spring.