Snapdragon

Where it grows

Snapdragon grows wild on rocky banks and old walls across Spain, southern France, Italy, and Morocco. In northern Europe and North America it is treated as a half-hardy annual; in mild Mediterranean climates it persists for several years as a short-lived perennial. The plant self-seeds prolifically into cracks in masonry.

How to recognise it

An upright plant fifteen to a hundred and twenty centimetres tall depending on cultivar, with lance-shaped leaves and a terminal spike of bilaterally symmetric flowers. Each flower has a closed two-lipped mouth that only opens when a heavy insect (typically a bumblebee) lands and forces the lower lip down. The seedpod develops into a skull-like capsule.

Garden & cultural uses

Cut snapdragons remain a florist standard, sold by colour series including the Rocket strain for long stems and the Madame Butterfly group for open azalea-type flowers. In genetics, Antirrhinum was alongside the pea one of the foundational organisms for understanding gene action and inheritance, particularly transposons.

In folklore

The dried seed capsule resembles a small grinning skull; children traditionally pinched the side of the flower to make the “dragon” snap, and Renaissance gardeners thought planting snapdragons in front of a house warded off curses.