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California native flower identification

13 years ago

In early summer I photographed this little flower and I am trying to find out what it is. I found it on my property in Arroyo Grande CA. We have lots of scrub oaks and sage. It was on the west side of the oaks in part shade. I collected seeds today because the pods are now opening. Thanks in advance for any suggestions. I looked all over the web, but couldn't find anything.

http://s304.photobucket.com/albums/nn189/dancingdirt/Flowers/

Comments (3)

lycopus
13 years ago
Seems to be a parasitic plant like those in the genus Orobanche, commonly known as broomrapes.
nonmember_gw
13 years ago
Probably Orobanche bulbosa
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I used to see some similar wild gourds on my property in the high chaparral 4700ft elev above Anza CA. One of the names was Coyote Gourd. The Rabbits loved them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucurbita_foetidissima http://www.laspilitas.com/nature-of-california/plants/3398--cucurbita-palmata http://www.laspilitas.com/nature-of-california/plants/1143--cucurbita-foetidissima
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Beautiful Cori Ann! Does it smell as wonderful as the descriptions? I meant to post back that out of my original 6 plants that "Failed," 5 miraculously started to show green leaves. Apparently bunny munching didn't destroy the root system. I was glad I hadn't gotten around to removing them yet. So we put chicken fence around to protect from grazing and they are slowly growing. Nothing like yours for sure, but I was amazed that they tried to come back. No blooms.
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terrestrial_man
13 years ago
Nonmember is correct. In fact your image includes a shot of its host plant,
Adenostoma fasciculata

Here is a link that might be useful: Orobanche bulbosa

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