Orobanche centaurinaBertol.

WFO wfo-0000388527 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 5 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 5 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 centaurina, photographed by Galyna Mykytynets
fig. a Galyna Mykytynets, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-07-02 / obs. 140704897
Orobanche centaurina, photographed by Luca Fornasari
fig. b Luca Fornasari, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 12837257
Orobanche centaurina, photographed by Michael Andresek
fig. c Michael Andresek, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 169209091
Orobanche centaurina, photographed by Conrad Altmann
fig. d Conrad Altmann, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 8566986
Orobanche centaurina, photographed by Luca Fornasari
fig. e Luca Fornasari, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 12837259
Orobanche centaurina, photographed by Conrad Altmann
fig. f Conrad Altmann, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 8566985
Orobanche centaurina, photographed by carnifex
fig. g carnifex, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 85879570
Orobanche centaurina, photographed by carnifex
fig. h carnifex, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 85879661

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 26 botanical countries

Regions where Orobanche centaurina is native: Iran, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, North Caucasus, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang, Nepal, Pakistan, Austria, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Krym, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Ukraine IranKazakhstanKirgizstanNorth CaucasusTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTürkiyeUzbekistanXinjiangNepalPakistanAustriaBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKrymNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaUkraine
Native distribution of Orobanche centaurina, 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
Austria AUT EUROPE
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
France FRA
Germany GER
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Ukraine UKR
Iran IRN ASIA-TEMPERATE
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
North Caucasus NCS
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Uzbekistan UZB
Xinjiang CHX
Nepal NEP ASIA-TROPICAL
Pakistan PAK

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 221 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -14.0 °C -4.3 °C 2.5 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 21.8 °C 24.2 °C 27.2 °C
Annual rainfall 505 mm 617 mm 949 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 76 mm 101 mm 159 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 221 research-grade observations of Orobanche centaurina 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 20 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.

  • Orobanche comosa Schur
  • Orobanche echinopis Pančić
  • Orobanche echinopophya St.-Lag.
  • Orobanche elatior var. forojuliensis Coss.
  • Orobanche elatior var. tommassinii Rchb.f.
  • Orobanche forojuliensis (Coss.) Nyman
  • Orobanche kochii F.W.Schultz
  • Orobanche major f. karelinii Beck
  • Orobanche major f. microphyla Beck
  • Orobanche major f. moravica Beck
  • Orobanche major f. oreites Beck
  • Orobanche major f. ritro (Gren.) Beck
  • Orobanche major f. trichocheilon Beck
  • Orobanche major prol. ritro (Gren.) Rouy
  • Orobanche major subsp. ritri (Gren.) R.C.V.Douin
  • Orobanche major subsp. ritro (Gren.) R.C.V.Douin
  • Orobanche major var. ritro (Gren. & Godr.) Willk.
  • Orobanche ritro Gren.
  • Orobanche salviae subsp. echinopis (Pančić) Nyman
  • Orobanche speciosa subsp. tommassinii (Rchb.f.) Nyman

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. 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.