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ground-cone

Habit Herbs, monocarpic perennial; achlorophyllous, holoparasitic, with rhizomelike vegetative structure, surfaces tessellate or with irregular scaly plates, roots absent.
Stems

erect, fleshy, glabrous.

Leaves

cauline, spiral, proximally imbricate, less so distally;

petiole absent;

blade stiffly chartaceous, margins entire.

Inflorescences

terminal, dense spikes;

bracts present.

Pedicels

absent;

bracteoles absent.

Flowers

sepals 4 or 5, calyx bilaterally symmetric, cup-shaped, lobes triangular-acuminate;

petals 5, corolla dark red or dark purple, strongly bilabiate, cucullate, short-tubular, palatal folds absent, abaxial lobes 0 or 3, adaxial 2, adaxial lip entire or with shallow notch;

stamens 4, didynamous, included, filaments glabrous;

staminode 0;

ovary 1-locular, placentation parietal;

stigma 2–4-lobed, broadly clavate-crateriform or nearly capitate.

Capsules

dehiscence loculicidal.

Seeds

2000–2500, light tan or brown, irregularly columnar or oblong-ellipsoid, wings absent.

Boschniakia

Distribution
from USDA
nw North America; Asia (Bhutan, China, Nepal, Russian Far East)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 2 (1 in the flora).

Boschniakia has not been well studied using modern systematic techniques. The overall relationship of the genera of holoparasites in Orobanchaceae is currently under review.

Boschniakia himalaica Hooker f. & Thomson is distributed in southern China and the Himalayan countries of Asia. It is parasitic on species of Rhododendron.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 17, p. 460. Authors: L. Turner Collins, Alison E. L. Colwell, George Yatskievych.
Parent taxa Orobanchaceae
Subordinate taxa
B. rossica
Name authority C. A. Meyer ex Bongard: Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg, Sér. 6, Sci. Math. 2: 159. (1832)
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