03 July 2024

Yellow Rattle

Look out for yellow rattle with small yellow flowers. They have an upper overhanging lip and a lower lip with two purplish flaps protruding in between. Flowers emerge from large green pouches. As flowers fade and plants dry out, seeds rattle inside the pouch, giving the plant its name. Toothed leaves are shaped like spear-heads and held in pairs directly on the stem. The green leaves do photosynthesise but yellow rattle is also parasitic with its roots latching on to the roots of grasses to absorb nutrients, reducing the vigour of grasses and enabling it to compete. Yellow rattle nó gliográn is part of our native Irish biodiversity.