Rhodora 
JOURNAL OF 
THE NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB 
Vol. 26. July, 1924. No. 307. 
OROBANCHE RAMOSA ON A COLEUS. 
W. C. MUENSCHER. 
(Plate 145.) 
SoME time ago I received a package of plants for identification. 
These specimens were gathered on February 4, 1924, by a Coleus 
grower in his greenhouses in Flushing, Long Island, New York. In 
his accompanying letter it was stated that, “ These sucker plants are a 
menacing weed in the greenhouses . . . If one of the sucker 
plants is pulled up, without removing all its roots in contact with the 
Coleus plant, within a month’s time it reproduces tenfold in the same 
place.” 
An examination of the contents of the package revealed several 
plants of branched broom-rape, Orobanche ramosa L., belonging to 
the Orobanchaceae, a family of parasitic phanerogams. The collection 
contained several fine plants with well developed flowers and fruits 
as well as several younger plants some of which were still growing 
on the roots of stunted and partly dead Coleus plants. Because of the 
unusual occurrence of this parasite, an examination was made of the 
available literature on Orobanche, but no record could be found of 
O. ramosa L. occurring as a parasite on Coleus in this country, nor 
on any other host in New York State. According to Garman (2) 
Orobanche ramosa L. is common on hemp, Cannabis sativa L., and 
tobacco, Nicotiana Tabacum L., in Kentucky, and has been reported 
on tomato, Lycopersicum esculentum L., in New Jersey. Koch (3), 
in Europe, reported O. ramosa L., on a number of hosts, including 
Coleus Blumei Benth. Beck (1) reported it as a parasite on 35 hosts 
belonging to a number of widely separated families, especially Solana- 
ceae, Urticaceae, Labiatae, and Compositae. 
