Orobanche In A Bunch

Day 237: You might be misled into thinking those pretty lavender flowers belonged to the succulent leaves beneath them, but in fact, there's something botanically sinister going on here. Orobanche uniflora (Naked Broomrape) is a parasite with a particular appetite for the roots of saxifrages and sedums. The species lacks chlorophyll and is therefore incapable of photosynthesis, so it relies on host plants to process nutrients into a form it can utilize. There are several categories of parasitism in the realm of botany. Broomrape is considered a holoparasite, i.e., one which depends entirely upon the host.