Yellow Rattle
Rhinanthus minor
Farmers once used the rattling sound of the seeds to determine when a meadow was dry enough to be cut for hay.
- Scientific name
- Rhinanthus minor
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Lamiales › Orobanchaceae › Rhinanthus
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Species-rich hay meadows, traditional pastures, and grassy coastal dunes.
- Diet
- Hemi-parasitic; produces its own energy via photosynthesis but siphons water and nutrients from the roots of neighboring grasses.
- Range
- Europe, North America, Northern Asia
- Size
- 10 to 50 cm in height
- Lifespan
- 1 year (Annual)
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Agricultural intensification, over-fertilization of soils, and premature mowing of meadows before seed-set.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless to humans. Safe to observe and touch. Avoid trampling the surrounding meadow and do not attempt to transplant, as it relies on complex parasitic root connections with host grasses.
Rhinanthus minor , the yellow rattle , little yellow rattle , hayrattle or cockscomb , is a flowering plant in the genus Rhinanthus in the family Orobanchaceae, native to Europe, northern North America, and Western Asia.
Photo: Caleb Catto, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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