Scientific name: Cistanche
tubulosa
Family: Orobanchaceae
English common name: yellow broomrape, desert broomrape
Arabic common name: Halook, Athan el-Jinn.
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Scientific name: Cistanche
tubulosa |
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Can you believe that this nice big flowering plant is a parasite?? "Broomrape" is the translation of the Medieval Latin Rapum genistae, meaning a knob or tuber of Genista (Broom), referring to the parasitic growths of the broomrape (Cistanche family) of the roots of the broom, Genista. (See Planted Spirits and Plantagenet Ethos). Its thick fleshy stems resemble giant asparagus, until bright yellow flowers, with pale pink color on their tops and arranged in a spiral form, open to reveal their beauty. Don't look for the leaves, you won't find them! Leaves are reduced to small brown scales. The Yellow Broomrape is believed by the Bedouins to be poisonous and they even consider it harmful to smell. The Yellow Broomrape does particularly well in the sandy areas of the Eastern and Southern deserts and in the lowlands of the rift valley. | |