Louisiana Broomrape / Orobanche ludoviciana

This was a new plant found on 21 August 2010, on a climb down into Horseshoe Canyon, near Drumheller, north east of Calgary. I have never seen it anywhere since. The whole, solitary plant (a dense, spike-like cluster), was maybe three inches tall. I will add a previously posted macro of just a few of the very tiny flowers in the cluster in a comment box below. This is native to North America.

In a United Nations Environment Programme, World Conservation Monitoring Centre, for Dinosaur Provincial Park, also in the Badlands of Alberta, the following was reported:

"Threatened species, or those at the limit of their biogeographic range, include Orobanche ludoviciana ..."

"Louisiana Broomrape has no chlorophyll and is parasitic on species of Artemisia spp. and other members of the aster family. There are over a 100 species of Orobanche identified worldwide and a number of them are very serious economic crop pests in arid regions, by starving their host plants of nutrients and moisture." From Minnesota wildflowers.

www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/louisiana-broomrape

This is where a group of us spent the day botanizing. To the north east of our city, there are endless miles of flat prairie. Then, suddenly, one comes across the amazing Badlands - our own mini Grand Canyon! This is one of the best-known sites in the Canadian Badlands, located 17 kilometres west of Drumheller on Highway 9. Horseshoe Canyon is about 145 km (88 miles) from Calgary. It takes between 1½ hours and 2 hours to drive there from Calgary.

"Horseshoe Canyon is an isolated pocket of badlands amidst the Alberta prairie. Apart from its aesthetic value, Horseshoe Canyon also represents three unique habitats or ecosystems: the prairie, the wooded coulee slopes and the badlands."

www.natureconservancy.ca/site/PageServer?pagename=ab_ncc_...

www.tyrrellmuseum.com/