Orobanche ludoviciana subsp. multiflora has purple and white tubular corollas which turn brown with age. The anthers are bright yellow and woolly. Orobanche ludoviciana subsp. multiflora is found in lower elevations and dry hillsides. Similar to Orobanche fasciculata, Orobanche ludoviciana subsp. multiflora seems to have a predilection for parasitizing Artemisia carruthii.

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Fleshy, parasitic perennial herb, 10-40 cm tall; stems yellowish to purplish, solitary to clustered, glandular-pubescent aboveground; glabrous and yellow belowground.

Leaves: Alternate along the stems; reduced to appressed scales.

Flowers: Purple, arranged in a dense, glandular-pubescent raceme or thyrse at the top of each stem; each flower subtended by a broad bract; calyx 10-17 mm long, with 5 unequal lobes; petals fused into a curved tube, strongly 2-lipped at the top, and glandular-pubescent; the corolla tube is white to pale lavender, 20-35 mm long and strongly constricted; the upper lip of the corolla is 5-9 mm long, purple, and deeply cleft into two broadly rounded lobes; the lower lip is 3-lobed and purple.

Fruits: Capsules 2-valved, containing many tiny seeds, less than 1 mm long.

Ecology: Found in sandy soils in a variety of habitats, from 4,500-8,500 ft (1372-2591 m); flowers August-September.

Distribution: NM, CO, AZ, and UT

Notes: Orobanche spp. are unmistakable, fleshy-stemmed, leafless herbs which are not green because they are root parasites and do not photosynthesize. O. ludoviciana ssp. multiflora has purple flowers in dense elongate spikes and yellowish to purplish stems which are strongly glandular-pubescent. It parasitizes species within the sunflower family (Asteraceae). This taxon has traditionally been considered to be a distinct species, O. multiflora, and is still treated as such in the recent Four Corners Flora (Heil et al. 2013). However, other recent sources treat it as a variety of O. ludoviciana, and the differences are indeed subtle (see Allred and Ivey 2012). Var. multiflora is distinguished by its rounded corolla lobes; the style is persistent on the capsule until the capsule splits open; and the calyx is usually longer than the fruit. Var. ludoviciana and var. cooperi have triangular corolla lobes; a deciduous style; and a calyx the same length as the fruit or shorter.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Orobanche comes from the Greek orbos, vetch, and anchein, to strangle, referring to the parasitic growth form; ludoviciana refers to Louisiana; multiflora translates to many-flowered.

Synonyms: Orobanche multiflora

Editor: AHazelton 2017