Orobanche reticulata | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Lamiales |
Family: | Orobanchaceae |
Genus: | Orobanche |
Species: | O. reticulata |
Binomial name | |
Orobanche reticulata Wallr. 1825 | |
Synonyms | |
Orobanche pallidiflora Wimm. & Grab. [1] |
Orobanche reticulata is a species of broomrape known by the common name thistle broomrape. [2] It is a parasitic plant whose host is normally the creeping thistle. It is native to the lowlands of Western Europe and Central Asia, but in the United Kingdom it is a rare and protected plant, growing only in Yorkshire, on grassland sites such as Quarry Moor.
Orobanche reticulata was described by taxonomist Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Wallroth (Wallr.) in 1825. [3] Its usual host plant is creeping thistle. [2] It is a herbaceous and self-supporting plant with simple broad, scale-like leaves, [4] normally growing up to 70 centimetres (28 in), [2] and it flowers between May and July. [5] It is a tuberous perennial, a hermaphrodite plant which possibly germinates in the spring. It has a yellow-purple stem. The two-lipped flowers, measuring 15–25 mm (0.6–1 inch), have dark spots and purple stigmas. However, for full identification, the host must be noted. [6]
In general it is a lowland plant which grows on the edges of rivers and roads, and on floodplains, preferring grassland. [7] In the United Kingdom it prefers dry, calcareous soil without shade, and an altitude of 100–150 metres (328–492 feet). [6] It is possibly water-dispersed in some cases. It is a plant of temperate climates, native to the lowlands of Western Europe and Central Asia. [7] In Belgium and northern France its range is 10–30%; in Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands 30–60%. [6]
Orobanche reticulata is native and stable in the UK, [7] where it is also known as Yorkshire broomrape. [8] It is however a rare plant there, having been notified as a protected plant under Schedule 8. It grows only in Yorkshire, where it appears mainly in the Magnesian Limestone zone, [2] but also at Wharram Quarry. [9]
At Wharram it has a "good population" of up to 224 flower spikes (2017), parasitising woolly thistle, and can grow quite tall there (up to 81 centimetres (32 in)) although it may have been introduced artificially. At Hetchell Wood 117 flower spikes were recorded in 2015, and at Ripon Loop 77 spikes were recorded in 2014. [2] In 2004 it was found at North Grimston. [10] It was notified in 1989 on Hook Moor SSSI, [11] [12] where Natural England suggests that rabbit activity is beneficial to the survival of this plant. [13] It grows at Quarry Moor, which was notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1986, partly because it featured O. reticulata. [14] It is also found on some road verges in Yorkshire. [15]
In 1998 the Broomrape Conservation Workshop was actively monitoring O. reticulata across Yorkshire. [2] [16] [17]
Brimham Rocks, once known as Brimham Crags, is a 183.9-hectare (454-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Geological Conservation Review (GCR) site, 8 miles (13 km) north west of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, on Brimham Moor in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The site, notified as SSSI in 1958, is an outcrop of Millstone Grit, with small areas of birch woodland and a large area of wet and dry heath.
Orobanche is a genus of over 200 species of parasitic herbaceous plants in the family Orobanchaceae, mostly native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Some species formerly included in this genus are now referred to the genus Conopholis. The broomrape plant is small, from 10–60 cm tall depending on species. It is best recognized by its yellow- to straw-coloured stems completely lacking chlorophyll, bearing yellow, white, or blue snapdragon-like flowers. The flower shoots are scaly, with a dense terminal spike of between ten and twenty flowers in most species, although single in O. uniflora. The leaves are merely triangular scales. The seeds are minute, tan-to-brown, and blacken with age. These plants generally flower from late winter to late spring. When they are not flowering, no part of the plants is visible above the surface of the soil.
Burbage Brook is an upper tributary stream of the River Derwent in the Peak District of England.
Burley Woodhead is a hamlet in the City of Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England. The hamlet is 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south-west of Burley in Wharfedale and is approximately 3 miles (5 km) from the spa town of Ilkley. Burley Woodhead comprises chiefly of a small cluster of farms and homes along the road from Ilkley to Guiseley at the foot of Burley Moor, though the village is at 560 feet (170 m) above sea level, with the moor being some 1,300 feet (400 m) above sea level. The local public house is The Hermit.
Orobanche minor, the hellroot, common broomrape, lesser broomrape, small broomrape or clover broomrape, is a holoparasitic flowering plant belonging to the genus Orobanche; a genus of about 150 non-photosynthetic plants that parasitize other autotrophic plants.
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.
Godrevy Head to St Agnes is a coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in north Cornwall, England, UK, noted for both its biological and geological characteristics. A number of rare and scarce plant species can be found on the site, along with many breeding seabirds.
Long Quarry Point is a coastal promontory below Wall's Hill in Torquay, Devon, England. The site is part of the Hope's Nose to Wall's Hill Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Hay-a-Park Gravel Pit is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, adjacent to the east side of the town of Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England. Having been a disused and flooded quarry since the 1970s, it now consists of the large Hay-a-Park Lake and three smaller ponds, besides associated reedbeds, scrub, woodland and grassland. It was designated as a SSSI in 1995 because it supports a number of wintering birds, including a large flock of goosander. This site is "one of the most northerly inland breeding populations of reed warbler in Britain." Hay-a-Park was once part of a royal park, an early landowner being Edward II.
Quarry Moor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, at the south edge of Ripon, North Yorkshire, England, and adjacent to the A61 road. It contains an outcrop of Magnesian Limestone, exposed by former quarrying. 255 million years ago this limestone was the peripheral sediment of a tropical sea. The land was donated in 1945 to the people of Ripon by the town's mayor, Alderman Thomas Fowler Spence, a varnish manufacturer. The land was notified as an SSSI in 1986 because its calcareous grassland supported a large diversity of plant species. The site features a Schedule 8 protected plant, thistle broomrape. The land is protected as a nature reserve, and it is also managed as a recreational area. Therefore, its calcareous grass area is fenced off for protection and study, but it also contains a car park, information signs, a children's play area, accessible paths, benches, and dog waste bins.
Farnham Mires is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, to the east of the village of Farnham, North Yorkshire, England. It consists of a spring-fed marshy fen or mire with reeds and sedge, and drier calcareous grassland containing a diverse range of flora. It has a history of poaching and fox hunting, but since the late 19th century, the attention of botanists has been drawn to its large variety of flowering plants. It has received some consideration on this account since 1944, and from 1954 it was designated SSSI status. This site has no facilities, and is not open to the public.
Cow Myers is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) located in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), near Ripon, North Yorkshire, England. The site was designated in 1984 for its fen and alder carr habitat, which supports a diversity of wetland plant life. Of particular interest are the bird's eye primrose which is scarce in Yorkshire, and early marsh orchid. There is no public access to this site, no vehicular access, and no public facilities.
Bishop Monkton Ings is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, situated east of Bishop Monkton village in North Yorkshire, England. It consists mostly of marshy, calcareous grassland, with some broadleaved woodland, and some fen alongside the two watercourses which run through the site. This varied wetland forms a habitat for a variety of plants, including the semi-parasitic marsh lousewort (Pedicularis palustris).
Mar Field Fen is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, north of Masham, North Yorkshire, England, in a rural area known as Marfield. It is situated on land containing woodland carr, fen, spring-fed marshy grassland and drier calcareous grassland, between the River Ure to the east and Marfield Wetland nature reserve to the west. As "one of the best examples of fen habitat in the Vale of York," it is a protected habitat for a variety of plants, including the common butterwort, a carnivorous plant. There is no public access to this site.
Hack Fall Wood, otherwise known as Hackfall, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, of 44.8687 hectares, lying north-east of the village of Grewelthorpe, North Yorkshire, England. During the 18th century it was landscaped in the picturesque style by landowner William Aislabie, who created views by engineering streams and pools, planting trees and building follies. Turner and Gilpin painted it, and pictures of it featured on Catherine the Great's 1773 Wedgwood dinner service. Some 19th century writers called it "one of the most beautiful woods in the country."
Ripon Parks is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, situated north of Ripon, to the west of the River Ure and to the east of the village of North Stainley, in North Yorkshire, England. It was once part of the land held since the Middle Ages as a deer park by the archbishops of York and the canons of Ripon. The site was designated as an SSSI in 1983, because its varied habitats are valued for their breeding birds, amphibians and varied flora. The woods here are "of note" for the parasitic flowers of common toothwort and yellow star-of-Bethlehem. A small part of the site is accessible via public footpaths; there are no public facilities or dedicated car parks. The site incorporates the High Batts Nature Reserve, which is privately run for training, recording and educational purposes, and accessible to members only, except for its annual open day. Ripon Parks is now owned by the Ministry of Defence, and parts of the site are used as military training areas.
Kirk Deighton SSSI is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Alton's Field, Kirk Deighton, North Yorkshire, England. This site has been recognised as having one of the largest known breeding populations of great crested newts in the United Kingdom. It is a Special Area of Conservation, and is listed for protection under a number of directives. This ordinary-looking grassland field, with a couple of ponds in it, is ideal habitat for the newts, which use the grassland for foraging, the ponds for breeding, and surrounding walls, hedges and woodpiles for hibernation. The site is not accessible to the public, and it is not permissible to survey the ponds without a licence.
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