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Antirrhinum
Also called Snapdragon, Snapdragons
Snapdragons (Antirrhinum) are short-lived perennials, often grown as annuals, prized for their dragon-face flowers in white, yellow, orange, red, pink and purple. Key to success is full sun, well-drained soil and regular deadheading.
Antirrhinum is a genus of plants in the Plantaginaceae family, commonly known as dragon flowers or snapdragons because of the flowers' fancied resemblance to the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed. They are also sometimes called toadflax or dog flower. They are native to rocky areas of Europe, the United States, Canada, and North Africa. Antirrhinum species are widely used as ornamental plants in borders and as cut flowers.
The snapdragon is an important garden plant, widely cultivated from tropical to temperate zones as a bedding, rockery, herbaceous border or container plant. Cultivars have showy white, crimson, or yellow bilabiate flowers (with two lips). It is also important as a model organism in botanical research, and its genome has been studied in detail.
Snapdragons are short-lived perennial plants that survive well in cold seasons but are often replanted each spring and considered annual plants. They do best in full or partial sun, in well-drained soil since their roots are susceptible to rotting (although they do require regular watering). They are classified commercially as a range of heights: midget or dwarf (15–20 cm or 6–8 in), medium (40–75 cm or 15–30 in) and tall (75–120 cm or 30–48 in). Removing the dead flowers, referred to as deadheading, is important to help them to continuously produce beautiful flowers throughout their growing season. They are susceptible to ethylene gas, so removing dead flowers and keeping them away from ripe fruits or vegetables also helps them bloom longer. They grow during their peak seasons of April to June and August to October in the Northern Hemisphere and bloom in a variety of colors such as white, yellow, orange, red, purple, pink, including multicolored patterns.
In addition to growing the plants for cut flowers, the seeds have been used to extract edible oils, particularly in Russia, while the leaves and flowers have been considered to possess antiphlogistic (anti-inflammatory) properties and have been used in poultices. A green dye has also been extracted from the flowers.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Antirrhinum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
