Orobanche ludoviciana

Martin and Hutchins 1980, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Parasitic annual, stem yellow to purplish, viscid-pubescent, 7-40 cm tall, solitary or clustered. Leaves: Reduced, 5-10 mm long, cauline and scalelike. Flowers: Inflorescence viscid-pubescent spikelike racemes, with pedicels to 0-10 mm long; calyx 8-12 mm long, lobes narrowly lanceolate, unequal and longer than tube; corolla purplish, 15-20 mm long, lobes rounded at apex, upper lip erect, 4-6 mm long, lower lip with a prominent purple vein. Fruits: Capsule generally as long as sepals. Ecology: Found in sandy soils from 4,000-7,000 ft (1219-2134 m); flowers May-September. Distribution: WA, ID, WY, MT, CO, NM, KS, NB, ND, SD, OK, TX, MO; south to n MEX. Notes: Distinguished by the rounded apex of corolla lobes in contrast with O. arizonica, O. cooperi, and O. riparia all of which have pointed corolla lobes. The binomial has been applied to at least five different species. Hosts include Artemisia and Grindelia. Ethnobotany: Used on wounds, the sprouts and roots were baked and eaten, and used against infections. Etymology: Orobanche is from Greek orobos, a kind of vetch, and anchone, choke or strangle because of the parasitic nature of the genus, while ludoviciana means of for from Louisiana. Synonyms: None Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2015

Parasitic on many kinds of plants, especially Artemisia and other Asteraceae; plants 1-3 dm, simple or rarely branched, with numerous appressed scale-lvs; spikes many- fld, dense, forming 1/3 to 2/3 of the shoot; fls mostly sessile or the lower on erect pedicels to 15 mm; cal subtended by (1)2 bractlets, as well as by a bract, bilabiate, the upper lip with a single lobe, the lower with 4; cal-lobes linear, 8-12 mm; cor often purplish, 1.5-2.5 cm; 2n=24, 48, 72, 96. Chiefly in sandy soil; Ill. and Ind. to Sask. and Tex., w. to Calif. and n. Mex. June-Aug. Our plants are var. ludoviciana. (Myzorrhiza l.)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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