WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

With thick, yellowish, cream-colored stems containing no chlorophyll, this parasitic plant gets its nourishment from roots of pines and hardwoods. Clumps with numerous cylindrical 4–10-inch tall stems burst through the leaf litter on the forest floor. Note the dense spike of tiny, tubular flowers that obscures the stem.

FLOWERS: Spring, summer. Tubular flowers yellowish turning rusty brown, 3/4-inch long (20 mm), with two lips, upper lip arching, lower lip with 3 lobes; flowers form dense spikes that almost obscure the stem; fruit a dense cluster of round, yellowish capsules surrounded by brown, withered flower parts.

LEAVES: Alternate, reduced, scale-like, obscure.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, shaded forest floor; mixed conifer and hardwood forests.

ELEVATION: 5,000-10,300 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The dense spikes of tube-like flowers and thick stems distinguish this flower from closely related Broomrapes in the Orobanche genius.

NM COUNTIES: Mountains through central NM at mid- to high-elevation wooded habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Colfax, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Mora, Otero, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance.