The Tortoise Table

Could anyone advise what this is please. Growing in the grass at a local reservoir site.

It's a bit hard to say, because I can't see much of the leaves, but I'm pretty sure that it is Bugle (Ajuga). Here is our entry for it -- do you think this is your plant?
https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/pla ... MjBNqR7m9s

Nina

Is that similar or the same as broomrape?

It certainly does look similar, but in this case I don't think it is Broomrape. The flowers on Broomrape are slightly hooded or more tubular -- you can see that from these close-up photos https://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/Flowers ... ommon).htm , whereas the flowers on this plant are not. The petals on Ajuga reptans (Bugle) are all on the bottom half of the flower, and you can see that in the photo. Here are some more photos of the Bugle flowers https://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/Flowers ... /Bugle.htm . The sure way to tell if it is Bugle is whether this plant has a square stem, as Bugle is in the Lamiaceae family.

Nina

Pete28 wrote:
> Is that similar or the same as broomrape?