BROOMRAPE FAMILY 



(OrobanchacecB) 



Parasitic plants on the roots of others, whitish, yellowish, 

 or brownish, never green, with alternate scales in place of 

 leaves. Flowers solitary, axillary. 



CANCER ROOT (Aphyllon fasciculatum, Gray). Flowers 

 yellowish or brownish, corolla 2-lipped, with an elongated 

 somewhat curved tube, about f inch in length; solitary on 

 bunched, long footstalks rising from the axils of the scales. 

 Stem densely sticky-hairy, a few inches tall, parasitic on other 

 plant-roots, in sandy ground California to British Columbia, 

 and eastward through Arizona to the Mississippi Valley. 



The name Cancer Root has been popularly applied to several 

 plants of the Broomrape family because of their fancied 

 efficacy in cancerous diseases. There are hah* a dozen species 

 of Aphyllon indigenous to the Pacific Coast, several of which 

 have their flowers in dense racemes or spikes. One of these 

 Aphyllon tuberosum, Gray of Southern California has a 

 thickened tuber-like base, which the Indians roasted and ate. 



By some botanists the plants of this genus are included in 

 the genus Orobanche. 



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