When we first moved to our garden in Yorkshire, I started noticing a tiny white-flowered plant in our meadow. At first I acknowledged it but thought little of it until I looked up and discovered it was eyebright (Euphrasia spp.) a hemiparasitic plant, it attaches its roots to other plants to extract nutrients from them. Hemi, which means half or partially, because it can still absorbs nutrients from soil and photosynthesises. The gardening world champions yellow rattle in meadows but eyebright is rarely mentioned. Yet as I’ve learnt, this tiny wonder is every bit key piece in the grassland puzzle.
