Orobanche uniflora L.
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TAXONOMY
 
Family: Orobanchaceae
Genus: Orobanche
 
Species Synonyms: Thalesia uniflora (L.) Britt.
Orobanche uniflora var. terrae-novae (Fern.) Munz
Orobanche uniflora var. typica Achey
Orobanche uniflora ssp. occidentalis (Greene) Abrams ex Ferris
Orobanche porphyrantha G. Beck
Orobanche purpurea Jacq.
Orobanche terrae-novae Fern.
Orobanche uniflora var. minuta (Suksdorf) G. Beck
Orobanche uniflora var. occidentalis (Greene) Taylor & MacBryde
Orobanche uniflora var. purpurea (Heller) Achey
Orobanche uniflora var. sedii (Suksdorf) Achey
Orobanche sedii (Suksdorf) Fech.
Aphyllon uniflorum (L.) Torr. & Gray
Common Names: naked broomrape
oneflowered broomrape
one-flowered cancer-root
small broom-rape
 
DISTRIBUTION
 
Canada: British Columbia – southwestern Alberta, southwestern Saskatchewan, Ontario – Newfoundland – Nova Scotia
Saskatchewan: southwestern Saskatchewan; Cypress Hills
Ecoregion: Cypress Upland
 
HABITAT
 
Saskatchewan: willow thickets and mudflats
 
RARITY STATUS
 
Provincial Status According
to Harms (2003):
Endangered
Nature Conservancy Status:
G5 S1
Saskatchewan Species at
Risk Status:
None
COSEWIC Status:
None
 
Naked broomrape is endangered because it is extremely rare and very regionally limited in Saskatchewan. This species is almost always locally sparse. Possible threats have been identified.
 
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
 
Height: 3 – 20 cm tall
Stems: few to several, in bundles, spreading to descending, slender to stout, fleshy, very short and grading into flower stalk
Leaves: 1 – 5, scale-like, white or brownish
Inflorescence: flowers solitary; stalks 5 – 25 cm long, sticky or glandular-hairy, white to yellow
Flowers: sepals 5, 6 – 9 mm long, 3-nerved, glandular-hairy, lobes longer than the tube; petals 2-lipped, white, purplish or yellowish, with two yellow bearded folds in throat; stamens 8 – 11 mm long, anthers white, hairless to slightly hairy; ovary hairless, tapering to style; stigma 2-lobed
Fruits: capsule; seeds numerous
 
OROBANCHE KEY FOR SPECIES FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN
 
1 Flowers sessile or nearly so; inflorescence a spike-like cluster; floral bracts present; petal lobes acute
O. ludoviciana
1 Flowers on long stalks, solitary; floral bracts absent; petal lobes round
2
   
2 Persistent stem woody; flower stalks several; sepal lobes shorter or equal to the tube
O. fasciculata
2 Persistent stem soft; flower stalks 1 – 3; sepal lobes longer than the tube
O. uniflora