Thesium linophyllum

Description:

2012-05-11 Burgenland, district Neusiedl/See, meadow near Zitzmannsdorfer Wiesen (outside National Park)German name: Mittel-LeinblattGenus Thesium consists of a very few semi-parasitic species, of which none is too common and most are very rare. This one here, Th. linophyllum, is common enough only in Eastern, Pannonian Austria but rare elsewhere.Even so it does appear rarer than it seems to be because most of its habitats (dry, nutrient-poor meadows) have been destroyed in the last two or three decades, and in its habitats their tiny flowers, pretty only when you look at them from close, are overlooked by most, as their habitats are home to several more spectacular orchid and iris species. They're spectacular enough for my money, those Thesium flowers which don't even have a 'proper' common name.