OROBANCHACEJI. 



597 



Plant more or less yellow, on Centaurea and other 



herbs. Stamens hairy below 4. Tall B. 



Plant seldom above a foot high. Spike short, or with 

 the lower flowers distant. 

 Plant of a dingy brown, or with a reddish tint. Tube 

 of the corolla broad. 

 Calyx of 2 entire or unequally divided sepals. 



Plant red-brown, on Thyme 3. Red B. 



Calyx of 2 equally divided sepals. Plant light or 



dark brown, on Galium 2. Clove-scented B. 



Plant of a light yellowish-brown or purplish, the 

 flowers often tinged with blue. Tube of the 



corolla narrowed above the base 5. Lesser B. 



Three bracts to each flower, one underneath, and a small 

 one on each side. Plant often bluish. 

 Stem always simple. Calyx 5-toothed or -lobed . . 6. Blue B. 

 Stem often branched. Calyx 4-toothed or -lobed . 7. Branched B. 



1. Great Broomrape. Orobanche major, Linn. (Fig. 711.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 421.) 



This, our largest species, as it is first 

 developed is of a pale yellow, but very 

 soon, assumes in every part a dingy pur- 

 plish-brown colour. Stem simple, stout, 

 from 1 to 1^ or 2 feet high, much thick- 

 ened at the base, with lanceolate scales, 

 which are much shorter and broader at 

 the base of the plant. Flowers closely 

 sessile, with one bract to each, forming 

 a dense spike at least half the length of 

 the whole plant. Calyx more or less 

 deeply divided into 2 or 4 lanceolate 

 lobes. Corolla f to 1 inch long ; the 

 tube nearly as broad as long, curved, 

 with a very oblique limb ; the upper lip 

 entire or shortly 2-lobed, the lower one 

 3-lobed, with the middle lobe usually, 

 but not always larger than the lateral 



ones, and all the lobes toothed and wavy, although less so than in many 

 species. The upper part of the style and stamens are usually covered 

 with short glandular hairs, which are wanting in the lower parts. 



On the roots of shrubby Feaflower plants, scattered over nearly the 

 whole of Europe. Not uncommon in some parts of England, chiefly 

 on Broom, more rarely on Furze. Fl. early summer. 



Fig. 711. 



