"Stewart Robert Hinsley" wrote in message
...
In message , Chris Potts
writes
Muddymike wrote:
Inspired by the wonderful comments on my garden pictures I have uploaded
a few more. Some showing the overgrown mess we took on two and a half
years ago.
Further to the Ivy Broomrape, I have discovered a virtual forest of the
stuff, see first picture at
http://www.twango.com/channel/Muddymike.Garden
Must mow the lawns.
Mike
Hello Mike

I don't think it is Ivy Broomrape! It is Common Toothwort (Lathraea
squamaria). Ivy Broomrape is taller with a much more open spike; it
flowers in late June/July. There is a good picture of Toothwort at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toothwort. It flowers in April, so just
right.

All the best,

Chris Potts

I hadn't considered Lathraea, as the plant didn't look at all like
lLathraea clandestina. However, Lathraea squamata is typically parasitic
on elm and hazel, rather than ivy. However it seems to occur on many
genera.

According to Stace, the key characters separating Lathraea and Orobanche
are

Lathraea: rhizomatous; flowers pedicellate (stalked); calyx with 4 equal
lobes;

Orobanche: not rhizomatous; flowers seesile (unstalked) except rarely near
the base of the inflorescence; calyx with 2-4(5) teeth arranged in 2
lateral lips.

Looking at the original photograph the calyx characters may be correct for
Lathraea. If Mike could check the details, and what plants other than ivy
are growing in the vicinity ...

I always found the keys for Orobranche and relatives to be hard going,
especially seeing as most of them have very colourful flowers. That plant
looks like toothwort/Lathraea squamaria alright. It is bright pink all over
in mid spring. L.clandestina (i think it is introduced) is a more lurid
colour and is smaller from what I can remember. L.squamaria is described as
widespread and is native but I have only seen it a handful of times, in
Ireland I cannot remember what it was growing on.



--
Stewart Robert Hinsley