Orobanche caesia, Reichenb.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1972, Flora Europaea. Volume 3. Diapensiacea to Myoporaceae, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 289

7. O. caesia Reichenb. , Pl. Crit. 7: 48 (1829).

Stems 10-35 x 0-3-0- 5 cm, scarcely swollen at base, simple, glandular-pubescent. Leaves 8-17 mm, ovate to lanceolate, numerous. Inflorescence 5-20 x 2-5-4 cm, usually dense, arachnoid-villous with white hairs; bracts 8-14 mm, ovate-lanceolate; bracteoles linearlanceolate, shorter than calyx; flowers sessile or subsessile. Calyx 9-14 mm; teeth lanceolate, almost equalling or longer than tube. Corolla 20-25 mm, glandular-pubescent, suberect at base, campanulate and more or less patent distally, lilac to bluish-violet; lobes of lower lip oblong to ovate, obtuse to acuminate. Filaments glabrous, or slightly hairy at base, inserted 6-8 mm above base of corolla; anthers glabrous. Stigma white. Capsule 7-9 mm. On Artemisia spp. E .C. Europe, Romania, S. & E. parts of U.S.S. R. Au Cz Hu Rm Rs (C, W, K, E).

O. nowackiana Markgraf, Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Ges. 44: 429 (1926), recorded from two localities in C. Albania, has been included in 7, which it resembles in its simple stem, arachnoidvillous inflorescence and subglabrous stamens. It appears, however, to differ from all other species of the section in its very dwarf stature, subequally 5-toothed calyx, predominantly yellow corolla and purple stigma. Its systematic position must remain doubtful until more material is available.