OROBANCHACEAE. 389 



1. OROBANCHE L. Broom-rape. 

 Low commonly viscid-pubescent plants, with violet-purple or yellow flowers. 

 Calyx 5-cleft into acute or acuminate lobes. Corolla tubular, curved, obscurely 

 or manifestly bilabiate; upper lip erect or arching inwards, in ours 2-lobed; 

 lower lip 3-lobed, spreading. Stamens included. Style deciduous; stigma 

 peltate or with anterior and posterior lobes. Placentae 4, 2 on each valve of the 

 capsule. (Greek orobos, vetch, and anchone, choke.) 



Flowers on long slender peduncles from a short more or less subterranean caudex, 

 without bractlets; corolla obscurely bilabiate; placentae not closely approximate in 

 pairs. 

 Peduncles few or one; corolla bluish or purplish; calyx lobes subulate. ... 1. O. uniftora. 



Peduncles many; corolla commonly yellow; calyx-lobes broader 2. O. fasciculata. 



Flowers in a raceme, or subspicate, or thyrsoid, each with 2 bractlets; corolla manifestly 

 bilabiate; placentae in contiguous pairs. 

 Herbage light colored or somewhat purplish; flowers pedicellate; calyx equally cleft. 



Calyx-lobes nearly as long as tube of corolla 3. O. comosa. 



Calyx-lobes scarcely half as long as corolla 4. O. calif ornica. 



Herbage dark reddish brown; flowers subsessile or short pediceled; calyx unequally 

 cleft; stems with a thickened tuber-like base 5. O. tuber osa. 



1. O. uniflora L. Naked Broom-rape. Peduncles few or one, slender, 

 P L , to .1'j in. high from a short scaly nearly subterranean stem; calyx-lobes 

 subulate, often attenuate, longer than the tube; corolla violet-tinged or blue- 

 purple, 1 in. long or less (twice the length of the calyx or more), the lobes 

 obovate and rather large. — (Aphyllon uniflorum Gray.) 



Widely distributed but not common: Lafayette; Napa; Howell Mt. Apr.- 

 May. 



2. O. fasciculata Nutt. Scaly stem emerging from the ground 1 or 2 in. 

 and bearing numerous fascicled peduncles 3 to 4 in. long; plants more pu- 

 bescent and glandular than in no. 1; calyx-lobes broadly or triangular-subulate, 

 usually shorter than but often exceeding the tube; corolla yellow, sometimes 

 purple or reddish tinted, 1 to l 1 /^ in. long. — (Aphyllon fasciculatum Gray.) 



Higher mountain slopes and ridges, rather common: Coast Eanges; Sierra 

 Nevada; Southern California. June. Parasitic on Eriogonum, Phacelia, 

 Artemisia, etc. 



3. O. comosa Hook. Branching close to the surface of the ground, 3 to 

 4 in. high, puberulent; flowers racemose or somewhat corymbose; pedicels 2 

 to 4 lines long; bractlets on the pedicels or at the base of the flowers; calyx 

 parted into long linear-attenuate lobes % as long as or nearly equaling the 

 corolla; corolla pinkish or purplish, 1 to 1% in. long, upper lip notched or bifid, 

 lower lip 3-parted into rather narrow lobes; anthers woolly.— (Aphyllon como- 

 sum Gray.) 



Dry hills or low valleys, parasitic on Artemisia and other shrubs, usually 

 not common in a locality. Mohave Desert; Livermore; San Joaquin and 

 Sacramento valleys; northward to Washington. Aug.-Sept. 



4. O. californica C. & S. Stems usually simple, 2 to 6 in. high; viscid- 

 pubescent; flowers crowded in a dense raceme; pedicels 1 to 2 (or the lower 

 sometimes 6) lines long; calyx-segments linear-lanceolate, half as long as the 

 corolla; corolla yellowish or purplish, % to 1 in. long, its lobes shorter and less 

 spreading than in no. 3; anthers glabrous or slightly hairy. — (Aphyllon cali- 

 fornicum Gray.) 



Open hills: Coast Ranges; Sierra Nevada. Corolla rather more slender 

 and less membranous than in O. comosa; lips about 2 lines long, in (). comosa 

 about 3 to 4 lines long. 



