Aphyllon purpureum

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Purple broomrape is a California native root-parasitic perennial found in generally moist habitats across California at elevations up to 3,100 meters. Flowering from late March to July, this plant produces pale purple to yellow flowers approximately 12 to 35 millimeters long with rounded, minutely fringed lobes. Growing with extremely short stems between 0.5 to 5 centimeters tall, it emerges as a delicate parasitic structure attached to host plants. Its flowers feature distinctive orange nectary glands at the base of the ovary and develop in small raceme-like clusters with generally one to two blossoms. The plant produces flowers with hairy anthers and a unique stigma with two recurved lobes.

Habitat: Generally moist places, on herbs, especially

Bloom period: Late Mar-Jul

Elevation: < 3100 m

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