Antirrhinum majus 'Black Prince'

Ecology & Origins

Antirrhinum majus is native to the western Mediterranean — the rocky hillsides and dry scrublands of southern Europe, from the Iberian Peninsula to the south of France and Italy — where it colonises old walls, stony banks and disturbed ground with cheerful ease.

The species has been in cultivation since the 15th century, long enough to have worked its way into the collective memory of European gardening.

'Black Prince' is an heirloom selection with a distinguished history. This treasure dates from around 1900 and has never fallen from favour - a century of gardeners have grown it and passed it on, which is the most honest endorsement any plant can receive.

The species does best at 17–25 °C, tolerates a certain amount of frost, and flowers quickly from seed in 3 to 4 months. Though perennial by nature, it is typically cultivated as an annual or biennial, particularly in colder regions. It thrives in full sun to partial shade in any well-drained, reasonably fertile soil, and is notably resistant to deer and rabbits — the bitter taste of its mature foliage apparently unappetising even to the most determined garden visitors.

Floral Morphology

Antirrhinum majus is an herbaceous perennial growing to 50–100 cm. Leaves are spirally arranged, broadly lanceolate, 1–7 cm long. The upper stem is glandular, sometimes woody toward the base.

In 'Black Prince', the foliage is a deep glossy bronze-green that darkens further to purple-bronze in cool autumn temperatures — a living colour shift that makes the plant interesting even before a single flower opens. Above this dark foliage rise dense spires of deep crimson flowers of a smouldering, almost black intensity.

The flowers are tubular and bilaterally symmetrical — two-lipped, the classic zygomorphic form — borne singly or in terminal racemes through summer and autumn. The upper lip has two lobes, the lower three, with a raised palate that closes the throat of the flower and forces visiting bumblebees — heavy enough to push it open — to brush against the stamens as they enter. It is a mechanical precision that took millennia to evolve and still works perfectly.

The common name "snapdragon" comes directly from this structure: squeezing the sides of the flower causes the mouth to snap open like a dragon's jaw - a detail that has delighted children for generations and shows no sign of losing its charm.

The blooms are faintly scented of cinnamon, especially noticeable on warm evenings when the whole plant seems to exhale a gentle spice into the garden.