Broomrape sp

Description:

Another Orobanche that I couldn't identify (broomrape or broom-rape) - a very difficult, but fascinating family... with over 200 species of parasitic herbaceous plants, and many of them coming in a wide variety of forms and colors. These ones were of some 30 - 50 cm in height, and grew in group of some 15 to twenty floral shoots. They lack chlorophyll, and is predominantly yellow-brown in color, with somewhat whitish flowers and stem tinged purple. If I had to put my bet, I would vote for O. minor, Common broomrape...

Habitat:

One of two Orobanche species seen that day, this one was in shady and humid habitat, under shrubs and trees, on banks of river Rhone around Geneva.

Notes:

Representatives of this family don't produce chlorophyll and are totally dependent on other plants for nutrients. Their seeds can remain dormant in the soil, often for many years, until stimulated to germinate by certain compounds produced by living plant roots. Their do not grow real roots, but attach their root-like appendices to the roots of hosts, and robs its host of water and nutrients.