home

Orobanche foetida

Phylum: Magnoliophyta - Class: Equisetopsida - Order: Lamiales - Family: Orobanchaceae

Orobanche foetida at Cape St Vincent

Above: Orobanche foetida - one of the 150 broomrape species that occur mainly in the Mediterranean region

This tall and robust broomrape occurs in the Iberian Peninsula, Tunisia and the Balearic Islands.

A distinctive wildflower, this broomrape is parasitic on various members of the Pea family (Fabaceae). It can grow up to about 50cm in height and has deep red-to-purple flowers that sometimes have purple stigmas and a rather unpleasant smell - hence the specific epithet. This broomrape normally uses wild plants as its host, but it is beginning to become a problem with farm crops in some areas.

Orobanche foetida - closeup

Orobanche foetida growing in the dunes close to Cape St. Vincent in the Algarve region of Portugal

Orobanche foetida, detail picture

A close-up photograph of the flowers of Orobanche foetida

The plants shown on this page were photographed in April in the sand dunes around the Cape St. Vincent area of the Algarve, in Portugal. Orobanche foetida is common in the area, frequently appearing in the fields and abandoned farmland as well as in the dune systems along the coast.

Sue Parker's latest ebook is a revised and enlarged edition of Wild Orchids in The Burren. Full details here...

Buy it for just £5.95 on Amazon...


Wildflowers in the Algarve, an introductory guide, by Sue Parker

Sue Parker's latest ebook is a revised and enlarged second edition of the acclaimed Wildflowers in the Algarve - an introductory guide. Full details here...

Buy it for just £3.95 on Amazon...

Sue Parker's new ebook is a comprehensive and fully revised edition of her acclaimed field guide to the Wild Orchids of Wales. Full details here...

Buy it for just £5.95 on Amazon...

Sue Parker's 5-star acclaimed field guide to the Wild Orchids of the Algarve is now available as an ebook. Full details here...

Buy it for just £5.95 on Amazon...


Please Help Us: If you have found this information interesting and useful, please consider helping to keep First Nature online by making a small donation towards the web hosting and internet costs.

Any donations over and above the essential running costs will help support the conservation work of Plantlife, the Rivers Trust and charitable botanic gardens - as do author royalties and publisher proceeds from books by Pat and Sue.

© 1995 - 2024 First Nature: a not-for-profit volunteer-run resource

Please help to keep this free resource online...

Terms of use - Privacy policy - Disable cookies - Links policy