Plant Name
Scientific Name: Orobanche cooperi
Common Names: Desert Broomrape, Cooper's Broomrape, Burro Weed Strangler
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Annual
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb, Parasite
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland. This plant grows in sandy soil near other plants that it can parasitize.
Flower Color: Dark purple
Flowering Season: Winter (late), Spring
Height: To 16 inches (41 cm) tall
Description: The dark purple, cone-like, glandular-hairy inflorescences arise from pale, underground stems and often form large clumps. The individual flowers are 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) long, tubular, and bilateral with 3 lower lobes and 2 recurved upper lobes. These plants lack chlorophyll and are root parasites of nearby shrubs, usually those in the Aster Family (Asteraceae).
Special Characteristics
Legal Status – Federal Noxious Weed
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Scrophulariales
Family: Orobanchaceae – Broom-rape family
Genus: Orobanche L. – broomrape
Species: Orobanche cooperi (A. Gray) A. Heller – desert broomrape
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