Melampyrum pratense, the common cow-wheat, is a plant species in the family Orobanchaceae.

The ants disperse the seeds of the plant when they take them back to their nests to feed their young.

[2] Melampyrum pratense is a food plant of the caterpillars of the heath fritillary (Melitaea athalia), a butterfly.

[3] Melampyrum pratense herb has been used in traditional Austrian medicine internally as tea or externally as pillow filling for treatment of rheumatism and blood vessels calcification.

[citation needed] Melampyrum pratense can be parasitized by the oomycete species Peronospora tranzschelinana.