Is Lesser Broomrape worth getting excited about?

[clicka15]

I posted this question last week but I broke the rules about uploading photos and it was removed!

Anyway, I found a Lesser Broomrape growing out of a white clover in a set-aside field that has been fallow for several years. I know it's a parasitic plant and that it isn't that rare, but I was quite pleased to have spotted it and, although I think I might have seen the odd example before, I wondered whether it is a quality flower to have seen?

What do you think?

I won't risk posting the photo I took of it.

[Paul mabbott]

Sorry, clarification, which is lesser broomrape - I don't know the term? Obviously not greater broomrape Orobanche rapum-genistae! Common broomrape, O. minor, probably?

I think that all parasitic plants are indicative of a stable habitat (they can't establish in ploughed fields &c) which is a good thing but otherwise I think it's not too important: it is a common species and could be found almost anywhere that clovers and other legumes are established.

But a great plant to see, they, and other parasitic plants, always intrigue me ...

Keep trying with the photos ... even I've managed to work the system out now ...

Originally Posted by clicka15

I posted this question last week but I broke the rules about uploading photos and it was removed!

Anyway, I found a Lesser Broomrape growing out of a white clover in a set-aside field that has been fallow for several years. I know it's a parasitic plant and that it isn't that rare, but I was quite pleased to have spotted it and, although I think I might have seen the odd example before, I wondered whether it is a quality flower to have seen?

What do you think?

I won't risk posting the photo I took of it.

[clicka15]

Hi Paul.

Yes, you're right - it is Orobanche minor. If, as you say, it is indicative of a settled environment then that's a thumbs up for the field it's growing in.

[AlanS]

Orobanche minor (which, as far as I am concerned, is indeed Lesser Broomrape) is a ready colonist of disturbed places and often seems happier in them. The version of it that grows on clover and other legumes used to be a troublesome arable weed and is still quite a frequent colonist of new banks and roadsides.

If you live in much of England, at least. It is well worth getting excited about up here in Scotland.

To be honest, I don't really subscribe to the view that parasitic plants need stable conditions. It is in disturbed conditions that the hosts are more likely to be stressed and have weakened defences.

Most broomrapes are indeed confined to natural habitats, but often where the ground can become parched, and a few are serious weeds of cultivated crops in more arid parts of the world. Sadly, many of the species across Europe are now endangered.

Alan

[clicka15]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for your comments. An interesting difference of opinion with the other comment.

Best wishes,

Steven.