Toothwort.

I think I have blipped this before. But it is particularly good this year so it is getting a second go.

Lathraea squamaria. A ghostly parasite entirely lacking in chlorophyll. This one is growing on the roots of Hazel. It also grows on Alder and Willow.

As wort in a plant name usually means it was used as a medicine you might think it was used for toothache. But according to Richard Mabey it was never an important herbal medicine. It is relatively scarce although widespread but local mainly on chalk and limestone.

This nice example is in Gait Barrows National Nature Reserve. But interestingly we also have some in our garden our house having been built on a limestone slope.