Scrophularia

Figworts are herbaceous perennials, with paired leaves on square stems (but in this case it not indicating the family Lamiaceae), with relatively small flowers. A few are native, including the quietly  attractive yellow figwort, S. vernalis.

The almost mysterious purple-grown flowers of figworts are generally wasp-pollinated. Social wasps especially are of great value in the garden as predators of insects that may otherwise get out of hand ('pests'): predation is a key part of achieving balance without the intervention of poisons The leaves are eaten by the attractive larvae of figwort sawfly, the adults of which can often be seen hanging around the flowers, all waspy stripes and dangly yellow legs, while the developing seeds are eaten by the wonderfully camouflaged figwort weevil - it looks just like a half-eaten seed-head!