Photographs: the Burren, Co. Clare

Squinancywort Asperula cynanchica Lus na haincise Family: Rubiaceae Flowering time: June-September. Perennial. Native. Dense clusters of vanilla scented small pinkish or white flowers with 4 petals. The fruit is a pair of slightly rough nutlets. Whorls of 4 narrow linear-lanceolate leaves have at least the upper whorls with two long and two short leaves. A slender, hairless plant with branched 4-angled stems and a prostrate or sprawling growth habit. Height 10-25cm. Found on calcareous dunes, sand-hills and among rocky grassland in the south-west and west of Ireland.

Squinancywort, Asperula cynanchica, Lus na haincise