Family: črnobinovke (Scrophulariaceae)
Flowering time: June–September
Size: 15–30 cm
Habitat: forest meadows, shrubby areas and open forests
Comb cow-wheat (Melampyrum cristatum) is an annual semi-parasitic plant. Its erect stem is branched and covered with short, downward-curved hairs. It is leafy with opposite, linear-lanceolate leaves. They are entire, only the lower ones are toothed at the base. Comb cow-wheat has a distinctly dense, four-rowed inflorescence. The pale yellow-green to scarlet, ovate-heart-shaped bracts of the flowers are keel-shaped. They are distinctly sharply toothed and elongated into an entire-lobed, downward-curved tip. Pale yellowish and scarlet flowers with a dark yellow mouth of the crown are two-lipped; they are 10 to 16 mm long.
Comb cow-wheat grows on bare dry soils in warm habitats. It occurs scattered across the northern, central and southeastern parts of Slovenia, somewhat more common only in the southwestern part of the country.
