Aphyllon pinorum

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: perennial · Native

pine broomrape is a California native parasitic perennial found in open forest slopes at elevations below 2,100 meters. Flowering from July to September, this plant produces yellow flowers with pale purple-tinged lobes 12 to 20 millimeters long. Growing 10 to 30 centimeters tall with a slender stem and an enlarged base with many overlapping bracts, it has a distinctive coral-like root attachment. Its flowers emerge deep purple with golden brown or reddish tones, featuring a calyx 5 to 8 millimeters long with triangular-acuminate lobes. The plant is distinctively glandular-puberulent above ground, with flowers characterized by hairy filament bases and two recurved stigma lobes.

Habitat: Uncommon. Rocky, open forest slopes, on

Bloom period: Jul-Sep

Elevation: < 2100 m

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