Orobanche uniflora (naked broomrape)

Orobanche uniflora L.

Aphyllon uniflorum (L.) Torr. & A. Gray

Orobanche porphyrantha G. Beck

Orobanche purpurea Jacq.

Orobanche sedii (Suksd.) Fech.

Orobanche terrae-novae Fernald

Orobanche uniflora L. var. minuta (Suksd.) G. Beck

Orobanche uniflora L. ssp. occidentalis (Greene) Abrams ex Ferris

Orobanche uniflora L. var. occidentalis (Greene) Roy L. Taylor & MacBryde

Orobanche uniflora L. var. purpurea (A. Heller) Achey

Orobanche uniflora L. var. sedii (Suksd.) Achey

Orobanche uniflora L. var. terrae-novae (Fernald) Munz

Orobanche uniflora L. var. typica Achey

Thalesia uniflora (L.) Britton

Naked broomrape, one-flowered cancer-root, cancer-root

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Asteridae	A large class that encompasses asters
Order	Lamiales	Aromatic herbs and shrubs, including lavender, lilac, olive, jasmine, ash, teak, snapdragon, sesame, psyllium, garden sage, mint, basil, and rosemary
Family	Orobanchaceae	Broomrape family of parasitic plants
Genus	Orobanche	From the Greek orobos, a kind of vetch, and anchone, “choke or strangle” because of a parasitic habit, this was the Greek name of a plant that was parasitic on vetch
Species	uniflora	Single-flowered

About plant names...

This North American native is parasitic, stealing its nutrients from nearby roots. ”Broom” may refer to the broomlike shape of the plant, while “rape” (from Latin rapum) refers to lumps that form on the roots. Orobanche translates roughly to “vetch-strangler,” while uniflora means “single-flower.”

Identification: These tiny plants, less than 2" (6 cm) high, are easily overlooked. For one thing, they don’t appear to have leaves. They don’t need them. Instead, they wrap around roots of other plants, taking nutrients directly from them. (There are some “vestigial” leaves, small brown scales along the stem.) Tiny hairy stalks emerge directly from the ground. Each stalk is topped with a single nodding 5-petaled flower, yellowish-white or purple, about 1" (2.5 cm) long.

Online References:

Orobanche uniflora at Illinois Wildflowers

Orobanche uniflora on CalPhotos

Orobanche uniflora on the Connecticut Botanical Society's Connecticut wildflowers site

Orobanche uniflora on Missouriplants.com

Orobanche uniflora at the University of Wisconsin's Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium