365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Sunday, July 17, 2022
Aphyllon Purpureum
Day 277: This exquisite parasite is one of my favourite wildflowers. It bears a rather unfortunate common name, one which inevitably draws disparaging comments from readers who are unfamiliar with the root words which form it. It is Broomrape. "Broom" refers to legumes (a family which includes Scotch broom, among others) and "rape" comes from Latin "rapum," meaning "a tuber." The name is quite logical when you have the linguistic background since Aphyllon purpureum (formerly Orobanche uniflora) is parasitic on the roots of certain legumes, but in this case, it is associated with sedum (the green succulent foliage in the foreground). The Latin name "Aphyllon" means "without leaves." The parasite has no chlorophyll and therefore is not capable of photosynthesis on its own. It enslaves the sedum as its nutrient-provider, and eventually will kill the host plant. That said, in most instances, the sedum manages to stay ahead of the game by reproducing before it dies, creating a new generation of plants for Aphyllon to parasitize. Team Biota has been monitoring this particular colony for seven or eight years now, and it seems to have achieved a balance between the two species.
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