Yellow Bird’s-nest

This extraordinary plant is a saprophyte, drawing its nutrients from a tangled root system (said to resemble a bird’s nest) that feeds on decaying vegetable matter in the soil. The leaves are scales lying close to the stem, and the flowers are a cluster of tubular bells, each with four or five petals. The stems become upright when the fruit develops.


LEAVES : Alternate, oval scales; yellow or ivory.

PLANT HEIGHT : 8–20cm.

FLOWERING TIME : June–August.

FRUIT : Rounded capsule, held in calyx that becomes upright as it develops.

FLOWER SIZE : 9–12mm long.

SIMILAR SPECIES : Toothwort, which has flowers in a one-sided spike.