Orobanche aegyptiacaPers.

Egyptian broomrape

WFO wfo-0000388672 Accepted WFO 2026-06 5 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–e · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Orobanche aegyptiaca, photographed by Nasser Halaweh
fig. a Nasser Halaweh, CC BY 4.0 / 2016-07-12 / obs. 535256637
Orobanche aegyptiaca, photographed by Aryeh
fig. b Aryeh, CC0 1.0 / obs. 120179240
Orobanche aegyptiaca, photographed by Nasser Halaweh
fig. c Nasser Halaweh, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 18391573
Orobanche aegyptiaca, photographed by Nasser Halaweh
fig. d Nasser Halaweh, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 28865432
Orobanche aegyptiaca, photographed by Nasser Halaweh
fig. e Nasser Halaweh, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 535256630

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 35 botanical countries

Regions where Orobanche aegyptiaca is native: Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Kuwait, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Krym, South European Russia, Türkiye-in-Europe AlgeriaChadEgyptLibyaMaliMoroccoTunisiaAfghanistanCyprusIranIraqKazakhstanKirgizstanKuwaitLebanon-SyriaPalestineSaudi ArabiaTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanUzbekistanXinjiangAssamBangladeshIndiaNepalPakistanWest HimalayaAlbaniaBulgariaGreeceKrymSouth European RussiaTürkiye-in-Europe
Native distribution of Orobanche aegyptiaca, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Cyprus CYP
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Kuwait KUW
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Palestine PAL
Saudi Arabia SAU
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Uzbekistan UZB
Xinjiang CHX
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Chad CHA
Egypt EGY
Libya LBY
Mali MLI
Morocco MOR
Tunisia TUN
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
India IND
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM
Albania ALB EUROPE
Bulgaria BUL
Greece GRC
Krym KRY
South European Russia RUS
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 59 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -5.5 °C 9.2 °C 10.7 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 28.5 °C 30.9 °C 36.4 °C
Annual rainfall 410 mm 632 mm 882 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 2 mm 3 mm 58 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 59 research-grade observations of Orobanche aegyptiaca that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 30 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Kopsia aegyptiaca (Pers.) Caruel
  • Kopsia longiflora (Pers.) Dumort.
  • Orobanche aegyptiaca f. aemula Beck
  • Orobanche aegyptiaca var. aemula (Beck) Beck
  • Orobanche aegyptiaca var. lanuginosa Maire
  • Orobanche aegyptiaca var. lasianthera Maire
  • Orobanche aegyptiaca var. leiantehra Maire
  • Orobanche aemula Beck
  • Orobanche delilei Decne.
  • Orobanche fastigiata Beck
  • Orobanche ferox DC.
  • Orobanche haussknechtii Beck
  • Orobanche indica Buch.-Ham. ex Roxb.
  • Orobanche longiflora Pers.
  • Orobanche parasitica Fisch. ex Beck
  • Orobanche pedunculata Viv.
  • Orobanche pushpitoi M.R.Almeida
  • Phelipaea indica (Buch.-Ham. ex Roxb.) G.Don
  • Phelipanche aegyptiaca (Pers.) Pomel
  • Phelypaea aegyptiaca (Pers.) Dumort.
  • Phelypaea aegyptiaca (Pers.) Walp.
  • Phelypaea aegyptiaca var. delilei (Decne.) Reut.
  • Phelypaea aleppensis Reut. ex Boiss.
  • Phelypaea delilei (Decne.) Walp.

and 6 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.