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I'm posting this on behalf of someone on a Brittany/Normandy forum as we are all stumped as to what this plant/flower is. It was spotted beside a river on the Brittany/Normandy borders. Now I know the leaves and things around are not related to the flowers as they are celandine and cleavers etc. But do you recognise these flower buds?

Looks like Purple Toothwort .. Lathraea clandestina.
It's a parasite of Alders and Willows.

Excellent, thanks so much Tony. The adult 'flowers' look like some parasitic plants in have in my garden - nowhere near the stunning looks of the emerging buds (or whatever they would be called).

Yup - definitely Lathraea clandestina. I've never seen so much of it before!

That's beautiful.