OROBANCHE OXYLOBA
Common Names:- None
Homotypic Synonyms:- Phelipanche mutelii var. Oxyloba, Phelipanche
oxyloba, Phelypaea oxyloba.
Meaning:- Orobanche (Gr) Legume-strangler. (one species is parasitic on
legumes).
Oxyloba (Gr) With sharpe pointed pods or lobes
Stems:-
1) 12-30 × 0·2-0·5 cm, scarcely swollen at the base. simple or branched, glandular-
pubescent.
Leaves:-
1) 5-15 mm, ovate-lanceolate.
Flowers:-
1) Inflorescence, 10-15 × c. 3 cm, lax or dense, glandular-hairy, lower flowers,
shortly pedicellate.
2) Bracts, 6-9 mm, ovate-lanceolate;
a) bracteoles, linear-subulate, shorter than the calyx.
3) Calyx, 7-9 mm.
a) teeth, triangular-subulate, about equalling the tube.
4) Corolla, 15-20 mm, glandular-puberulent, suberect at the base, erecto-patent to
patent and narrowly campanulate above, white at the base, lilac distally.
a) lower lip, lobes, obovate, acute, crenate to subentire.
5) Filaments, glabrous, or somewhat hairy above, inserted c. 6 mm above the base
of the corolla.
a) Anthers, glabrous, or hairy at the base.
6) Stigma, white or pale blue.
Fruit:-
1) Capsule, c. 7 mm.
Host:- On Anthemis chia and other herbs.
Habitat:- Dry open shrubby vegetation, olive groves and gardens, 0-500 m,
Distribution:- Few and scattered records from mainland Greece and Ionian Islands.
- Balkans and SW Asia, eastwards to Pakistan.
Flowering time:- April-June.
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