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Greater broomrape. Espárrago de lobo
Orobanche foetida
39.3458, -0.311453
Field Notes
Description:
De la familia ChrysomelidaWolf asparagus is a plant that, as it does not have chlorophyll, obtains the nutrients from other plants that it parasitizes. Perennial, with a simple erect stem up to 80 cm tall, robust, usually with a swollen base and with glandular hairs. The leaves, near the base, are poorly developed, alternate, fleshy, sessile (without a petiole), oblong to ovate, and brown in color.
The flowers are grouped in dense terminal spike-shaped inflorescences, yellowish or purple in color, and unpleasant odor. Flowers in May.
Habitat:
Dune area between pine forest and the Mediterranean Sea. Wolf asparagus parasitizes the roots of leguminous shrubs such as brooms, gorse and genistas (Cytisus scoparius, Cytisus striatus, Cytisus multiflorus, Cytisus oromediterraneus, Ulex europaeus and Genista), reducing their vigor. It inhabits the lands in which these appear, normally hills, pastures and terraces.
Notes:
Curious name and curious plant. According to the naturalist Teofasto, who already dealt with plants approximately 300 years BC. C, these receive their name for strangling others, -for widening, squeezing or drowning- since it is, as we say, a parasitic plant.
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