Leaf
Pierre Bonnet, Tela Botanica · CC BY-SA 2.0
Snapdragon
Antirrhinum majus L.
Also known as: Common snapdragon, Antirrhinum
Family: Plantaginaceae
30 to 80 cm tall
Old walls, gardens, borders, free-draining soils
Flowering: May – October
Full sun
Hardy to -12°C
❓ How do you recognise this plant?
When squeezed at the sides, its flower opens like a snapping mouth, hence its common name.
🍃 Leaves
Lanceolate, bright green, opposite at the base
🌸 Flowers
Spikes of large gaping flowers, in a wide range of colours
🍎 Fruits
Capsules with pores that open to resemble a miniature skull
🪵 Bark
Woody base, upright branching stems
🗺️ Distribution
Native to the Mediterranean basin; widely naturalised on old walls and grown in gardens in France.
🐝 Value for pollinators
Snapdragon-type flowers adapted to bumblebees, the only insects heavy enough to open the corolla.
✂️ Horticultural uses
Beds, borders, cut flowers; very many horticultural cultivars in varied colours.
⚠️ Possible toxicity
No significant toxicity known.
🌿 Other Plantaginaceae to discover
ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.
🌱 This database is constantly evolving — species and information are added and corrected regularly. Spotted a mistake? Report it below.
© Floraneo — profile content is protected; reproduction without permission is prohibited. Photos remain under their own licence (see the credit shown on each photo).