Orobanche
(the old Greek name used by Dioscorides, and said to be derived from Orobos, Vetch, and ancho, to strangle, because the species were supposed to kill the plants on which they grow). Broom Rape. ORD. Orobanchaceae. A very large genus (above 150 species have been described, but the number of those entitled to specific rank may be reduced to about 100, or less) of various-coloured plants, broadly dispersed over the Northern temperate regions of the Old World, rarely found in the tropics or the Southern hemisphere, and scarcely ever in America; six are natives of Britain. Flowers at the axils of the scales, sessile or sub-sessile, bibracteolate or ebracteolate, densely or interruptedly spicate. Scales often acute. The species have no horticultural value. They are, however, decidedly interesting plants; the annual species may be sown together with the seeds of the host plants they particularly affect. Those of perennial duration should be sown near their special host plants; as, however, three years elapse before the young parasites arrive at the flowering stage, it is better to fence off the places where they are sown, and not disturb the ground.