Scientific name: Orobanche hederae Duby
Common name: Ivy Broomrape
Description
Habit: A perennial root-parasitic plant, to 50 cm high.
Stems: Erect, purple, often swollen at the base, without rhizomes.
Leaves: Alternate, without stipules, stalkless, lanceolate, undivided, untoothed, pointed, brownish and papery texture.
Flowers: Cream tinged with red, zygomorphic, with bracts, in a long but slender terminal spike; calyx divided deeply into 4 pointed teeth; corolla 10-20 mm long, fused into a tube, 2-lipped, curved, upper lip shortly 2-lobed, constricted before the mouth, lower lip lobed and middle lobe pointed; stamens 4; ovary superior, stigma yellow.
Fruits: A capsule with minute seeds.
Habitat: Limestone pavement.Distribution: Very local. Parasitic to Hedera sp.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: Yes