Orobanche ramosa stem tip

The apex of the many-flowered Orobanche ramosa inflorescence is dense with calyces, here dull creamy grey and hairy, the corollas blue with darker veins. The arched corolla tubes are funnel-shaped and two-lipped, their frontal lobes short and wavy.

The plants are said to be more variable in their natural habitat than in areas where they have been introduced or, more likely, have spread to. The plant was somehow introduced in South Africa, rued in agriculture wherever it is firmly established (Wikipedia; www.cabi.org; www.texasinvasives.org).