Hyobanche sanguinea L.

Erect herb, 3-9 in. high; root parasitical on bulbs or on the roots of Tripteris, Passerina, Aspalathus, &c.; stem fleshy, sometimes almost woody, simple, white, terete, densely clothed with scale-like leaves, as thick as a man's finger; leaves imbricate, ovate or oblong, very obtuse, somewhat or scarcely narrowed at the base, sessile, adpressed or but little spreading, entire, fleshy, somewhat concave, 0.5-1.5 in. long by 0.25-0.375 in. broad or the lower smaller, pale rosy or scarlet, more or less minutely viscid-tomentose on the back, glabrous within; flowers numerous, sessile, 1.25-2 in. long; spikes terminal, dense, 2.5-6 in. long, oblong or pyramidal, about three times as thick as the stem; bract similar to the leaves, about 0.5 in. long; bracteoles opposite, linear-oblong, obtuse, puberulous or pubescent with purple hairs; calyx 5-cleft; lobes oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, with purple pubescence outside; corolla purplish, white below, shaggy outside, subcylindrical, somewhat curved, ringent, unilabiate; lip obtuse, subfornicate, emarginate; mouth vertical; anthers dehiscing on the upper side; stigma thickened at the apex emarginate, whitish.

It is a subtropical plant.