Bill's Botanical Forays

Earlier this week, on the Maryland Biodiversity Project pages I saw a couple of photos of One-flowered Cancer root (Orobanche uniflora L.) on the North Tract taken by Richard Orr. Wow, since I have not seen Cancer root on the North Tract, it had to be documented for the record.  Well, this afternoon, Richard kindly showed me the location along the Patuxent River where he found them. (You can see the photos I took on this page. Click on the thumbnails for a full-sized view.)

One-flowered Cancer root is holoparasitic and lacks chlorophyll; it is dependent on the host plant for nutrients. Its hosts includes members of the Asteraceae and the Saxifragaceae. It is found throughout the USA, except Hawaii, the southern tier of Canadian provinces.

It is also called One-flowered Broomrape, Ghostpipe, and Naked Broomrape. Interestingly, although it is native to the USA, the Federal Government and nine states consider this to be a noxious weed.