Elfin Forest, Los Osos, CA. 22 May 2002
Tags: Orobanche parasitic plant broomrape Orobanche fasciculata Clustered Broomrape
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Elfin Forest, Los Osos, CA. 22 May 2002
Tags: Orobanche parasitic plant broomrape Orobanche fasciculata Clustered Broomrape
© All Rights Reserved
Found at the foot of a wooden step, Elfin Forest, Los Osos, CA.
Tags: Orobanche parasitic plant broomrape Aphyllon californicum California Broomrape
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Arroyo de los Chinos, NW San Luis Obispo Co., CA
Tags: Orobanche californica Orobanche parasitic plant broomrape California broomrape Aphyllon californicum subsp. californicum
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Arroyo de los Chinos, NW San Luis Obispo Co., CA
Orobanche species have previously been called "cancer-root" and one species still is named that.
In her wonderful 1916 book, The Wild Flowers of California, Their Names, Haunts, and Habits, Mary Elizabeth Parsons referred to them this way: "... all strange-looking, leafless plants of doubtful moral character--for I fear it must be confessed they are thieves. Stealthily sending their roots down and imbedding them in the roots of their victims, they draw from them the nourishment needed for their sustenance. But they have been overtaken by the proper retributive punishment--for having no longer any need of organs for the elaboration of nourishment, they are denied green leaves, the most beautiful adornment of many plants; and even the flowers of some of them seem to us to have a sickly, unwholesome hue. However, it must be acknowledged that these plants are quite interesting, despite their evil ways."
Tags: Orobanche californica Orobanche parasitic plant broomrape California broomrape Aphyllon californicum subsp. californicum
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