OROBANCHE HEDERAE

Family:- OROBANCHACEAE/Sect. OROBANCHE

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- Orobanche balearica, Orobanche glaberrima, Orobanche laurina,

Orobanche salisii.

Meaning:- Orobanche (Gr) Legume-strangler. (one species is parasitic on

legumes).

Hederae (L) Of ivy.

Stems:- 15-60 x 0·3-0·8 cm, usually strongly swollen at base, glandular-pubescent,

yellow to reddish-purple.

Leaves:- 12-30 mm, oblong to lance-shaped. acute.

Flowers:- Calyx 10-15 mm; segments free, entire or unequally bifid. Corolla 10-22

mm, almost hairless, rarely glandular-downy, dull cream tinged distally with

reddish-purple, upright-spreading to more or less patent; tube somewhat inflated

below, gradually narrowed to the mouth, newly straight; lips spreading, the upper

entire to distinctly notched at the apex, the lower hairless, with middle lobe usually

the largest. Filaments more or less hairless, rarely somewhat hairy below, inserted

3-4 mm above base of corolla; anthers hairless. Stigma yellow.

Fruit:- Capsule 10-12 mm.

Host:- Parasitic on the roots of Hedera helix.

Key features:-

1) Corolla not shining dark red inside, usually pale yellow, white or bluish outside,

at least towards the base.

2) Corolla-tube narrowed to the mouth.

Habitat:- Natural habitats, gorges, deciduous woodland and frequently by churches

and cemeteries. (0-)200-1100 m.

Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece. W & C Europe, NW Africa, though

Anatolia to N Iran. Rare on Crete, known from only a few locations.

Flowering time:- Late Apr to mid-July.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton

FAMILY AND GENUS DESCRIPTIONS

OROBANCHACEAE

General description:- Perennial (rarely annual) herbs without chlorophyll, parasitic

on the roots of other phanerogamic plants (usually herbaceous dicotyledons).

Stems:- Erect, usually simple.

Leaves:- Alternate, scale-like, often succulent at first.

Flowers:- In a terminal spike or raceme, rarely in a panicle or solitary. Calyx

tubular, cup-shaped or 2-lipped. Corolla 5-lobed, 2-lipped or almost regular.

Stamens 4, arranged in two pairs of unequal length (didynamous). Ovary superior,

1-locular, with 2-4 parietal, often deeply lobed placentae; style single; stigma more

or less 2-lobed.

Fruit:- A capsule, splitting into cells, along the midrib or dorsal suture (loculicidal

capsule); seeds small, numerous.

OROBANCHE

General description:- Perennial, biennial or annual.

Stems:- Stout or slender, simple or branched.

Leaves:- Numerous.

Flowers:- Usually in dense spikes or racemes. Bracteoles, if present, attached to

(adnate) to the calyx. Calyx with cylindrical to bell-shaped (campanulate) tube and

4(-5) teeth, or divided, usually deeply, into 2 lateral segments, which may be entire

or bifid. Corolla strongly 2-lipped; lower lip 3-lobed, at least as long as the upper.

Stamens included. Placentae 4, variably lobed.

Sect. OROBANCHE

Stems:- Simple.

Flowers:- Sessile, without bracteoles. Calyx split above and below almost or

completely to the base, and thus divided into 2 lateral segments, which may be

entire or equally or unequally bifid. Corolla variously shaped, usually tinged with

yellow, brown or red; upper lip 2-lobed to entire.