Lousewort (Pedicularis sylvatica)

	Lousewort

Lousewort is a relatively common, distinctive plant of the damper New Forest heaths. A low-growing perennial, Lousewort's unmistakable reddy-pink, occasionally white, two-lipped flowers can be seen from late-April until August projecting from prominently bulbous, cylindrical sepal tubes.

Lousewort is a partial parasite on the roots of other plants, most often grasses, from which it extracts nutrients through tiny white suckers on its own roots.

The name Lousewort refers to the lice and liver-flukes that often inhabit the places in which the plant grows, sometimes infesting grazing animals, and occasionally humans. Perhaps not surprisingly, Lousewort does not seem to have been much used in herbal medicine.

References:
Collins New Generation Guide - Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe: Alastair Fitter
Reader’s Digest Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Britain
The Encyclopedia of British Wild Flowers: John Akeroyd