Cistanche phelypaea

Description

Cistanche phelypaea, also spelled Cistanche phelipaea, is a species of plant in the family Orobanchaceae. It is an obligate parasitic plant that lacks chlorophyll and obtains its nutrients by parasitizing the roots of other plants.

The plant has stout fleshy flowering stems that rise to 100 cm tall from a generally swollen base. The stem is glabrous and yellow to purple-gray in color. Leaves are ovate-lanceolate, obtuse, glabrous, and normally brown in color. Inflorescence is dense, more or less cylindrical.

The flowers have a broadly campanulate-obconic shape, with a bright yellow color that can sometimes be light purple. The flower crown is glabrous, and it has white stigmatic lobes. The plant's chromosome number is 2n = 40; n = 20.

Distribution and Habitat

Cistanche phelypaea has a wide range of distribution from the Arabian Peninsula and the Syrian Desert in the east, through the Sahara, Cyprus, Crete, and the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, to Macaronesia in the west. It is found in areas where it can parasitize the roots of Chenopodiaceae bushes.

Characteristics

The plant grows 20-100 cm high and has yellowish, fleshy thick stems that are bare and leafy green. The stem leaves are small, scale-like, egg-shaped, blunt, and brownish with a more or less toothed to whole edge. The flowers are twisty, five-fold, and have a double flower shell. They are found in dense, 10-20 cm long, multi-flowered ears.

Uses

Cistanche phelypaea is used as a food source and is eaten similar to asparagus.