Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Parasitic annuals, stems 15-40 cm tall, leafy, erect, much branched, herbage hirsute below, villous and often slightly glandular above.

Leaves: Alternate, oblong to oblanceolate, margins entire, surfaces hirsute.

Flowers: Bright yellow, drying purplish, corollas narrow, bilabiate, 10-18 mm long, upper lip enclosing the stamens and pistil, lower lip 1/2 to 2/3 as long as the upper, calyx with a tubular base and spathe-like lobe, this opposed by a similar bract, giving the appearance of a 2-lobed calyx, stamens 4 in pairs, outer bracts hirsute, leaf-like, sometimes 3-cleft, flowers scattered along the branches.

Fruits: Capsule, compressed. Seeds few to many.

Ecology: Found on dry slopes and mesas, sometimes with Cupressus, from 3,500-6,000 ft (1067-1829 m); flowering August-October.

Distribution: Arizona, New Mexico.

Notes: This species is determined by the bright yellow flowers, with the lower lip 1/2 to 2/3 as long as the upper lip, and the herbage which is hirsute below, and villous and often glandular above.

Ethnobotany: There is no use recorded for this species, but other species in this genus have uses.

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher 2012

Etymology: Cordylanthus comes from two Greek words cordule, "club," and anthos, "flower, while laxiflorus means growing loosely.