Lathraea squamaria, L.

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 : 281

1. L. squamaria L. , Sp. Pl. 606 (1753).

Plant white or cream below; upper part more or less tinged with lilac-pink. Stems 15-30 cm, stout, erect, arising from a branched, subterranean rhizome. Scale-leaves alternate, suborbicular, cordate-amplexicaul, entire, crowded and more or less squarrose below, more distant and appressed above; bracts similar but thinner. Inflorescence a rather dense, secund, spike-like raceme; flowers patent or somewhat drooping; pedicels 3-6(-10) mm. Calyx c. 10 mm, glabrous to glandular-pubescent. Corolla 14-17(-20) mm; lips subequal, only slightly divergent; apex of upper lip not cuculiate; lower lip flat. Capsule c. 10 mm, subglobose; seeds 1-2 mm, subglobose, reticulate, numerous. In = 36. Parasitic on the roots of various trees and shrubs, most frequently on species of Alnus, Corylus and Fagus. Much of Europe, but absent from parts of the north and south. Au Be Br Bu Cz Da Fe Ga Ge Hb He tHo Hs Hu It Ju No Po Rm Rs (B, C, W, K) Si Su Tu.