Burro Weed Strangler
Desert Broomrape
Orobanche cooperi
LEAVES: No green leaves. Purplish-brown bracts on flowering stalk are
short, elyptic.
FLOWERS: Dark purple to brown flowering stalk appears briefly above
ground in spring time. Purple flowers are two-lipped.
PERENNIAL HERB: Parasitic on roots of bursages and possibly other desert
shrubs mostly in the aster family. Appears above ground during spring flowering
periods.
UNARMED.
FRUIT: Dry capsules split open lengthwise to release numerous small
seeds.
RANGE: This is a common plant but is not easily found when not in bloom.
It is widely distributed in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and Sonora on bajadas
and desert plains.