# 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.

- **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.

## About

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.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/c050d729-5b92-4705-bcfb-46818cd452e6
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/61470
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinanthus minor
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/61980398/medium.jpg (Caleb Catto, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.