Woodlore Blog

Woodlore Field Staff member Sarah Day recently found an unusual-looking plant at home, and has been doing some research to find out exactly what it is:

Common Broomrape (Orobanche minor)

This plant caught my eye; it sprung up in the lawn of my old home where I lived for 22 years, I’ve never seen it before so I can only assume this is the first year it’s grown there.

When I first saw it, the easiest description was ‘furry red asparagus’, but since then it has opened up. At first I thought it was an orchid of some sort, but now I’m fairly sure it’s a member of the broomrape family (Orabanchaceae); interesting plants that grow as parasites on specific hosts. Because most of their energy comes from the host plant they have no chlorophyll (the stuff that makes plants green, or red, and converts sun into energy) - some are yellow, red or even whitish!

Because of where this one was growing, and the lawn weeds that were growing near it, it is probably Common Broomrape, which lives on ‘peaflowers’ like clover, and ‘composites’ like daisies. Has anyone else spotted any orchids or broomrapes near them?

About The Woodlore Team

Woodlore, School of Wilderness Buchcraft was founded in 1983, by the British Bushcraft and survival expert Ray Mears. Woodlore began as a relatively unknown company, offering a small selection of courses on bushcraft techniques. With Ray's ambition and perserverance, Woodlore has since grown into a world-renowned and highly respected school, offering in-depth courses on a wide range of bushcraft and survival subjects. In addition to training, Woodlore now also provides some of the finest outdoors equipment from around the world, carefully selected on the basis of our extensive experience.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 10:47 am and is filed under Field Staff posts.