Aphyllon parishii subsp. parishii

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Parish's broomrape is a California native parasitic perennial found in central and southern California mountain ranges in conifer forest, chaparral openings, and scrub habitats at elevations of 300 to 3,000 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces flowers with pale to lavender corollas 20 to 25 millimeters long, with spreading lips 6 to 8 millimeters wide. Growing 15 to 26 centimeters tall with an elongate inflorescence 5 to 14 centimeters long and an asymmetrical flower arrangement, it develops delicate structures with distinctively shaped flower clusters. Its floral structure features a calyx with 10 to 16 millimeter lobes and spreading flower structures with wide, separated stigma lobes. As a root parasite, it typically grows attached to the roots of host shrubs in its native mountain environments.

Habitat: Uncommon. Conifer forest, openings in chaparral, scrub, generally on shrubs

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 300-3000 m

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.