NameThatPlant.net: Striga asiatica

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Lamiids: Lamiales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Striga asiatica FAMILY Orobanchaceae Go to FSUS key

Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.

Check out EDDMapS.org to see where this has been reported.

Read Which Weed is Witchweed from Lytton Musselman and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.

The flowers are bright red, 9-11 mm long, tubular and with 5 flaring lobes; perhaps only Cardinal-flower (Lobelia cardinalis) can match its flower color in NC. Read more at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.

A serious weed, Striga has been the subject of eradication efforts and quarantine policies since its appearance in our area, per Weakley's Flora (2022)

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Striga asiatica FAMILY Scrophulariaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)

Striga asiatica

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 17 (2019)

Striga asiatica

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 166-22-001:

Striga lutea FAMILY Scrophulariaceae

COMMON NAME:
Asiatic Witchweed

To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Striga asiatica, Asiatic Witchweed

USDA / Selected Weeds of the US. 1970 swus_page_331

Julia Scher, Federal Noxious Weeds Disseminules, USDA APHIS ITP, Bugwood.org bug_5376868

Month Unknown

Florida Division of Plant Industry Archive, Bugwood.org bug_5384180

Month Unknown

Stems erect, rarely branched. Corolla tube apically strongly curved, per Flora of China.

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Striga asiatica FAMILY Orobanchaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Striga asiatica FAMILY Scrophulariaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Striga asiatica

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 17
Striga asiatica

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 166-22-001:
Striga lutea FAMILY Scrophulariaceae

2936

Forb
Annual

Habitat: Cultivated fields, parasitic on the roots of corn and other grasses, per Weakley's Flora

Non-native: Old World

Rare

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

INVASIVE

This plant is causing problems in natural areas outside its native range, according to authorities such as:

LEAVES:
Simple
Opposite or subopposite

FLOWER:
Summer
Red
2-lipped corolla
4 included stamens (2 long, 2 short)

Flowers in leaf axils, solitary or in a spike upward

FRUIT:
Summer
Capsule

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!

"Despite what developers will tell you about restoration, she said, once a piece of land is graded, the biologic organisms and understructure of the soil are destroyed. 'No one knows how to easily re-create that, short of years of hand-weeding. Leaving land alone doesn't work; the natives are overwhelmed by the invaders.' Spot bulldozing is common... even on land that is supposedly protected. 'Much of this destruction is done out of expediency and ignorance.' She believed people are unlikely to value what they cannot name." — Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods, quoting biologist Elaine Brooks

If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".

Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".