This North American native is parasitic, stealing its nutrients from nearby roots.
“Broom” may refer to the broomlike shape of the plant, while “rape” (from Latin rapum)
refers to lumps that form on the roots. Orobanche translates roughly to “vetch-strangler,” while
uniflora means “single-flower.”
Plants: Tiny plants, 1–4″ (3–10 cm) high,
are easily overlooked. For one thing, they don’t appear to have leaves. They don’t need them. Instead, they
wrap around roots of other plants, taking nutrients directly from them. (There are some “vestigial”
leaves, small brown scales along the stem.) Tiny hairy stalks emerge directly
from the ground.
Leaves: Small brown scales, as mentioned above. They
are oval to ovate in shape, and somewhat thick.
Flowers: Each stalk is topped with a single nodding 5-petaled flower
with a tubular corolla. It is yellowish-white or purple,
about 1″ (2.5 cm) long. Flowers appear from late spring to early summer.
Fruits: An ovoid seed capsule, that splits open to release minute seeds,
which are distributed by wind.
Aphyllon uniflorum (L.) Torr. & A. Gray Orobanche porphyrantha G. Beck Orobanche purpurea Jacq. Orobanche sedii (Suksd.) Fech. Orobanche terrae-novae Fernald Orobanche uniflora L. var. minuta (Suksd.) G. Beck Orobanche uniflora L. ssp. occidentalis (Greene) Abrams ex Ferris Orobanche uniflora L. var. occidentalis (Greene) Roy L. Taylor & MacBryde Orobanche uniflora L. var. purpurea (A. Heller) Achey Orobanche uniflora L. var. sedii (Suksd.) Achey Orobanche uniflora L. var. terrae-novae (Fernald) Munz Orobanche uniflora L. var. typica Achey Thalesia uniflora (L.) Britton
From the Greek orobos, a kind of vetch, and anchone, “choke or strangle” because of a parasitic habit, this was the Greek name of a plant that was parasitic on vetch
