Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Lamiids: Lamiales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Conopholis americana
FAMILY
Orobanchaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read about Bear Corn from Lytton Musselman and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.
Read more about Squawroot at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Conopholis americana
FAMILY
Orobanchaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 17 (2019)
Conopholis americana
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 169-02-001:
Conopholis americana FAMILY Orobanchaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Conopholis americana
COMMON NAME:
Squawroot, Bearcorn, Oakdrops
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_coam_001_lvd
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JK Marlow jkm080322_023
March Pickens County SC
Table Rock State Park
Just emerging...
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Keith Bradley kab_c_americana_2603
March Orangeburg County SC
Santee State Park
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Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_c_americana_3_24_07_2
March Walker County GA
Pigeon Mountain
Leaves overlapping, brown, fleshy, scaly, and lacking chlorophyll, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
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Wesley Burnett gwb361_0307
April McCormick County SC
Stevens Creek Heritage Preserve
Small white to yellowish tubular flowers in dense terminal spikes make up half or more of the stem, per Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011).
)
Harry Davis hld361_fal_001d
April Greenville County SC
Jones Gap State Park
A 1/2" whitish 2-lipped flower projects from the stem above each bract, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
JK Marlow jkm160426_590
April Polk County NC
Pearson's Falls
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JK Marlow jkm060508_001
May Macon County NC
Nantahala National Forest: Wayah Ranger District
Short unbranched stems resemble small ears of corn popping up through the leaf litter, per Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011).
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JK Marlow jkm240508_9146
May Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm240508_9149
May Greenville County SC
A single fleshy capsule (about the size of a large grape) contains about 5,000 tiny seeds, per Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011).
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Keith Bradley kab_c_americana_7835
May NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
)
Stephanie C. Brundage scb_050821rufusmorgan01
May Macon County NC
Nantahala National Forest
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Conopholis americana
FAMILY
Orobanchaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Conopholis americana
FAMILY
Orobanchaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 17
Conopholis americana
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 169-02-001:
Conopholis americana
FAMILY
Orobanchaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Conopholis americana
361
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Rich, moist forests, under and hemiparasitic on Quercus species, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common in Mountains, uncommon or rare elsewhere
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Leaf scales overlapping, brown, lacking chlorophyll
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
Yellowish to white
Irregularly 4-5 toothed calyx
2-lipped tubular corolla
4 exserted stamens (usually)
Superior ovary
Inflorescence a dense terminal spike
FRUIT:
Spring/Summer
Capsule
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006) p235
- Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers (Campbell, Hutson, Sharp, & Hutson, 1962) p056
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p197
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p249
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p018
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p093
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p136
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p094
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p231
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p272
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p250
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p293
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011) p355
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p161
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