Scrophularia umbrosa


Scrophularia umbrosa, the green figwort, is a perennial herbaceous plant found in Europe and Asia. It grows in moist and cultivated waste ground.
The species looks very similar to the closely related Scrophularia auriculata. Green figwort has a greener stem than water figwort, and lacks the leaf auricles which give water figwort its Latin name.
The plant is probably poisonous to cows. It is pollinated by bees and wasps. It can grow in semi-shade or no shade, but requires moist or wet soil.

Conservation

The global conservation status of this species, as of 2013, is least concern. In the United Kingdom it is a very locally distributed species though increasingly abundant.

Folklore

The plant was thought, by the doctrine of signatures to be able to cure the throat disease scrofula because of the throat-like shape of its flowers.