The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Orobanche rapum-genistae
Also called Great Broomrape
Greater broomrape is a leafless, chlorophyll-free parasitic plant that grows on the roots of common broom and European gorse, so it cannot be grown like an ordinary garden plant. It is best appreciated in the wild where its host shrubs grow.
Orobanche rapum-genistae, the greater broomrape, is a plant species in the genus Orobanche. It is a parasitic plant, native to Europe, growing on the roots of plants in the bean family, usually common broom or European gorse.
Orobanche rapum-genistae contains verbascoside and orobanchoside.
The greater broomrape is a parasitic plant, growing on the roots of leguminous shrubs, and is to be found only where its host plants are found; these are usually European gorse or common broom, but occasionally it grows on dyer's greenweed. It has a suboceanic, southern-temperate distribution, in Western Europe and North Africa; in France, the Netherlands and Belgium it is widespread, but in Germany it occurs mainly in the west, and in Switzerland in montane and sub-alpine settings. It occurs all over Italy, and is present in Corsica and Algeria. In Britain it is present in scattered locations, mostly in Wales, Southwest England and near the coast in South England. It was in decline in the 18th and early 19th centuries, but more recently has staged a revival. It grows in the Great Casterton Road Banks, an SSSI in Lincolnshire.
Thyme Broomrape · Orobanche canescens · Bedstraw broomrape · Nodding broomrape · Orobanche clausonis · Desert broomrape · Bean broomrape · Orobanche densiflora · Knapweed Broomrape · Ivy broomrape · Broomrape Family · Orobanche lavandulacea
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Orobanche rapum-genistae by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
