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.

GROUND  CONE,  MEXICAN  CANCER-ROOT

CONOPHOLIS  ALPINA  VAR.  MEXICANA  (CONOPHOLIS  MEXICANA)

Broomrape Family, Orobanchaceae

Perennial herb

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Tubular flowers with arching upper lip, lobed lower lip.

Stem with fruiting capsules.

Range Map for

Conopholis alpina

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