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Click for details about the Orobanche genus name change to Aphyllon. |
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Orobanche
arizonica. Synonym: Aphyllon arizonica. (Arizona Broomrape) Orobanchaceae (Broomrape Family) Semi-desert. Woodlands, meadows.
Spring, summer. Originally my opening paragraph for this page read as follows: The plant pictured at left is certainly an Orobanche, but I am less certain of its specific epithet. The keys for A Utah Flora and Intermountain Flora indicate the plant shown at left is O. ludoviciana variety cooperi. The more up-to-date Synthesis indicates that this name is a synonym for O. cooperi (or O. cooperi variety cooperi). This species may also include what is often named O. multiflora. It is all a bit perplexing. As Stanley Welsh (the author of A Utah Flora) indicates in trying to separate varieties of O. ludoviciana, "none of the diagnostic criteria seem to hold...." In March of 2013, Turner Collins, Orobanche expert and Evangel University Professor Emeritus, emailed me the following:
Collins and Yatskievych published the new species description in 2015 in the on-line botanical web site, Phytoneuron. Click to read the description and an in depth discussion of the Orobanche genus. See page 3 of the description for range maps. The description has this to say about the relationship of O. cooperi and O. arizonica:
Thomas H. Kearney is credited with the collection of the type specimen for O. arizonica: "Marsh near Tuba City", Arizona at 5,050', September, 1935. At the time of that collection the plant was identified as O. cooperi. |
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Orobanche
arizonica. Synonym: Aphyllon arizonica. (Arizona Broomrape) Orobanchaceae (Broomrape Family) Semi-desert. Woodlands, meadows.
Spring, summer. Orobanchaceae are uncommon in some areas but unmistakable when you do find them. And when you do find one, be sure to look around for more. They tend to be quite common in selected areas. Orobanchaceae lack chlorophyll and have large roots which surround host roots and gain nourishment from them; they are thus "parasitic". (Click to see the roots of another Orobanchaceae, Orobanche fasciculatum). Each species of Orobanche is usually parasitic on roots of just certain plants; O. arizonica is apparently parasitic on Gutierrezia and the plant shown at left was most likely parasitizing the nearby Gutierrezia sarothrae. The genus name, Orobanche, is derived from the Greek "orobos" ("vetch") and "anchein" ("to strangle") referring to the habit of some Orobanche of being parasitic on legumes (a number of legumes are commonly called "Vetch"). |
Range map © John Kartesz,
County Color Key
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Click for a range map for Orobanche arizonica. See page 3 of the PDF.
Range map for Orobanche cooperi |