Orobanche elatiorSutton

WFO wfo-0000387803 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Orobanche elatior, photographed by Michael Hansen
fig. a Michael Hansen, CC BY 4.0 / 2005-07-19 / obs. 75921595
Orobanche elatior, photographed by Jerry Lanfear
fig. b Jerry Lanfear, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 77937002
Orobanche elatior, photographed by Jon Jorgensen
fig. c Jon Jorgensen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 206000744
Orobanche elatior, photographed by mattnewnham
fig. d mattnewnham, CC0 1.0 / obs. 205152989
Orobanche elatior, photographed by Stefan Haag
fig. e Stefan Haag, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201219619
Orobanche elatior, photographed by Jon Jorgensen
fig. f Jon Jorgensen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 191271980
Orobanche elatior, photographed by hugorainey
fig. g hugorainey, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 138956686
Orobanche elatior, photographed by hugorainey
fig. h hugorainey, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 138956822

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 32 botanical countries

Regions where Orobanche elatior is native: China North-Central, China South-Central, Iran, Kirgizstan, North Caucasus, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine China North-CentralChina South-CentralIranKirgizstanNorth CaucasusTürkiyeUzbekistanXinjiangAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBulgariaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKrymNetherlandsNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine
Native distribution of Orobanche elatior, 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
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Bulgaria BUL
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
China North-Central CHN ASIA-TEMPERATE
China South-Central CHC
Iran IRN
Kirgizstan KGZ
North Caucasus NCS
Türkiye TUR
Uzbekistan UZB
Xinjiang CHX

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

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 418 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -7.0 °C -1.4 °C 1.9 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 19.3 °C 21.2 °C 25.6 °C
Annual rainfall 584 mm 800 mm 1,162 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 97 mm 155 mm 232 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 418 research-grade observations of Orobanche elatior 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 17 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 alsatica var. caudata (De Not.) Bég.
  • Orobanche borbasiana Beck
  • Orobanche caudata De Not.
  • Orobanche centaureae-scabiosae F.W.Schultz
  • Orobanche centaurophya St.-Lag.
  • Orobanche confusa F.W.Schultz
  • Orobanche elatior var. microglossa Wallr.
  • Orobanche fragrans W.D.J.Koch
  • Orobanche genistae Stokes
  • Orobanche genistae-sagittalis F.W.Schultz
  • Orobanche icterica Pau
  • Orobanche kioviensis Rogow. ex Beck
  • Orobanche major f. krylowi (Beck) Beck
  • Orobanche major subsp. icterica (Pau) A.Pujadas
  • Orobanche major var. forojuliensis Coss.
  • Orobanche rosea Tzvelev
  • Orobanche stigmatodes Wimm.

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.