Northern Eyebright

Description

An annual of dry or damp places on acid heaths and moorland. It also grows on open clay and sandy substrates in disturbed habitats, such as disused gravel-pits and old airfields. 0-530 m (Redburn Common, Co. Durham). This tetraploid species has declined in S.E. England, where it may now be almost extinct. Elsewhere, many apparent losses are due to under-recording or former confusion with other taxa, particularly E. scottica, and it is likely to be largely stable. Many populations show signs of hybridisation with E. nemorosa. In N.W. Scotland it is supposedly largely replaced by E. micrantha x E. scottica, but there are very few records of this hybrid.