Orobanche ramosa flower

The Orobanche ramosa flower widens abruptly from its narrow corolla base to a gaping mouth. The calyx has four or five lobes. The flower is from 1 cm to 2 cm long.

The curved, funnel-shaped tube of the corolla arches down to its three-lobed lower and two-lobed upper lip. Best blue colouring is seen on the veins on the inside of the corolla lobes. The rest is much paler, apart from the two raised oblongs on the floor of the flower mouth. Gland-tipped hairs abound just about everywhere on the flower. Blue goes brown with age on the corolla itself, as did some sepal tips in picture.

Stamens and style are short, not exserted, although a hint of brown may indicate the presence of inner parts in the mouth in picture.

The fruit is a capsule of up to 1 cm long, containing several hundred seeds only 0,3 mm in diameter (Wikipedia; www.cabi.org; www.texasinvasives.org).