Orobanchaceae
An order of leafless, parasitic herbs, of various colours (never green), for the most part natives of Europe, North Africa, and extra-tropical Asia and North America, a few being found between the tropics in Asia, Africa, or mountainous or extratropical South America, and one in Europe and South Australia. Flowers hermaphrodite, regular, solitary in the axils of the bracts, sessile or pedunculate, few, or in dense, terminal, crowded spikes; calyx four or five-toothed or lobed; corolla lobes five, often broad, imbricated; stamens four, didynamous, inserted on the corolla tube. Scales alternate, densely crowded or scattered, upper ones bract-like. Stems or scapes erect, short or elongated, simple or slightly branched. Some of the species are agricultural pests, and do great damage, e.g., Orobanche pruinosa, on Beans; O. cruenta, on Saintfoin; O. minor, on Clover; O. rubens, on Lucerne; Phelipaea ramosa, on Maize, Tobacco, and Hemp. The order comprises eleven genera (the best known being Orobanche) and about 150 species.