Thursday, May 7, 2015

Careful observation reveals secret worlds

My husband, in his daily rounds caretaking our lovely white oak and chaparral scrub home, discovered these little beauties coming up in an old roadcut on top of the ridge.  He was baffled at how the entire plant was yellow! And has no leaves!  It's true, because the plant has no chlorophyll--it's parasitic to the roots of neighboring plants.


Orobanche fasciculata, commonly known as Clustered broomrape, is native to California.


Here's another Orobanche, the purple-flowering O. uniflora or Single-flowered broomrape, 
that lives in the lean serpentine soils of China Hill, just to the northeast of Yreka.

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