Orobanche minor var. minor(hellroot, "Yaseutsubo")
Japanese name: ヤセウツボ（痩靫） Scientific name:Orobanche minor var. minor
[Overview]
An annual 15–40 cm tall.
A parasitic plant with no chlorophyll, brown all over.
Its hosts include white clover and other plants, as well as plants of the Asteraceae and Apiaceae.
Short glandular hairs grow densely over the whole plant.
The leaves are reduced to scales; they are brown and lanceolate with sharply pointed tips, and are sparsely borne on the stem.
The flowers are solitary in the axils of scale-like bracts on the upper part of the stem.
The flowers are pale yellow, two-lipped, 1.2–1.5 cm long; the upper lip is shallowly 2-lobed, and the lower lip is 3-lobed with irregularly cut margins.
The flowers have purple streaks.
The fruit is a capsule.
[History]
First confirmed in Chiba in 1937, it has since become naturalized in various places.
[Notes]
It is designated as an invasive alien species requiring caution under the Invasive Alien Species Act.
